To Grow Wings
by Jynx Tsilevon
Summary: No longer a one-shot.During a point at the SOLDIER base, Cloud fails to prove his strength once again to those around him, and he attempts to end his life. But are the effects of his failed suicide worse than what would have happened if he suceeded? AU
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** Okay, so this story is...well, I read on a SquareEnix site that Angeal, from Last Order, was the model for Cloud, but then Square Enix decided to make Angeal a character and made a 'new' Cloud. Angeal had wings...well, _a _wing. And the first time I ever 'met' Cloud was in Kingdom Hearst I, and he has a wing in that too...so I wrote this story...

There are a few OC, but they just help the story move along. FLAMES, REVIEWS, IDEAS WELCOME:-)

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Final Fantasy VII...don't sue me, please! I'm poor!

* * *

To Grow Wings

"Growing wings isn't the hardest part; it's the flying that gets ya"

"Really, I'm just not good at anything…" Cloud muttered, watching 1st rank SOLDIER Zack duke it out with Sephiroth. By his count, this was Zack's fifth re-match…he'd lost every time. He waited for Colby, the Shinra Soldier sitting next to him, to reply. Instead, he got a slap in the back of the head.

"Come on, Spiky!" Colby moaned, shaking his head, "You're really good at a lot of stuff."

"Yeah, like what?"

"Like being able to tell when someone's about to lose, their weakness and strengths, and so forth. By the way, how's Zack doing?" Colby asked, looking back at Zack and Commander Sephiroth, and knowing who was going to win…again.

"He's going to find himself thrown across the room in a matter of seconds…" Cloud replied, not looking up from the ground he seemed so focused on.

"Why's that?"

"He just lost his stance."

"Huh?" No time for a reply from Cloud, though, for Sephiroth, once again, had found a way to best Zack and sent him flying across the room.

"Watch where you're aiming!" yelled Commander Iah Ling, the only SOLDIER to even stand a chance against Sephiroth. Last time the two of them had fought…well, there was no winner, and both Iah and Sephiroth couldn't move for a week afterward. The battle had gone one for three days.

"Sorry, Iah…" Zack whined, struggling to get up on his feet again. "I demand a rematch!" Sephiroth groaned.

"No," he said, "I've beaten you five…"

"Six…" Cloud corrected.

"Six times. You're just going to lose again."

"I am not!" Zack said, grinning.

"Give it a rest, Zacky!" Lei Tien, Iah's little sister, said. She was known for giving everyone pet names. Zack shrugged and grabbed Sephiroth's wrist, much to the Commander's disgust.

"Who dares face the infamous Sephy-san? The destroyer of worlds, disrupter of peace, and bringer of anything unpleasant!" Zack offered, holding up Sephiroth's hand as if he were the winner of a boxing match.

"Things unpleasant? Like Hojo?" Colby vouched. There was spread laughter throughout the room.

"Not funny…" Sephiroth retorted.

"No one? Is no one brave enough to face SOLDIER's own One Winged Angel?" Zack continued.

"Since when was I the One Winged…" Sephiroth started.

"I'll face him." Everyone looked around to see who'd spoken up. To most of their surprise, it was Cloud.

"Shadow? Ya sure?" Lei Tien asked, shocked.

"Anyone who could stand a chance?" Sephiroth asked.

"What, you scared I'll win, Commander?" Cloud mocked. He had no idea where that came from.

"A Shinra Grunt of your status? I bet you don't last five minutes."

"Five minutes, huh? How much ya goin' ta wager?"

"How about my life?"

"Too drastic, Commander. I'd hate to try and explain to Hojo why his prized SOLDIER killed himself," Cloud shrugged. "But you can take kitchen duty off my hands. I hate cleaning. 'Specially after you slobs."

"Fine. You last more than five minutes, and I'll pick up kitchen duty for the rest of your stay at the base."

"Deal," Cloud grinned. Iah Ling and Zack took two steps back. Cloud _never_ smiled.

"Well, choose your weapon," Sephiroth said.

"Don't got one. Let's go. Who's keeping time?" Cloud said, squaring off.

"I am…" another SOLDIER, by the name of Jericho, offered. "Go."

Sephiroth laughed and ran forward, sword ready to impale anything in its area of reach. He'd moved so fast that he'd expected to catch Cloud off-guard. To his surprise, Cloud was gone by the time he'd begun to charge.

"Up here, Sir," Cloud said, dropping from the rafters and drop-kicking Sephiroth in the shoulder. Sephiroth grabbed his foot and flung him at the wall. Cloud did a handstand that defied physics and then rebounded, getting cheers from the bystanders. Sephiroth countered with a long arc motion with his sword. Cloud had to back flip to avoid getting his nose cut off. He landed on his feet and tried to attack the Commander from behind. His efforts were for the worse, for Sephiroth whipped around with amazing speed and caught his shoulder with the tip of Masume. He forced himself to hide his pain as he jumped back.

_Why am I so tired? I've only been hit once…_ Cloud thought. Then he remembered what Zack had said about Sephiroth's weapon. Every hit felt like twenty strikes with a whip. The sword could be said to have the ability to suck the energy from anything it struck. He looked up to see Sephiroth smiling. He knew it'd only been a couple minutes. _Think! What can I do that will catch him off guard?!_ He only had one idea. He ran forward, charging like a mad man.

It worked. Sephiroth wasn't expecting _that_. Cloud was able to get a few good hits in before having to retreat again. _Hurry up, time…_ Cloud jumped to attack again but suddenly found himself slammed face first into the ground. He began to move but felt something cool and sharp on the back of his neck.

"I win, you lose…" laughed Sephiroth, "I warned you, didn't I, Cloud?" No reply came from the young Shinra soldier. He was thinking.

"What time is it? Jericho?" Sephiroth smiled. "It's over."

"No it's not!" Cloud yelled, grabbing Masume with his hand and ripping it from Sephiroth's grip. Sephiroth fell back, searching for his sword as Cloud stood up and charged him with new found strength. His strikes could have broken the bones of any normal human. Sephiroth only tried to dodge them until one of the attacks drew blood. Then he stopped playing around. Still not regaining his sword, he used his second best weapon.

Cloud charged Sephiroth again, suddenly thinking maybe he could win. He'd never even thought he'd make it this far and still be alive. But then, at least for him, time stopped.

"Cheat!" Zack yelled, "We never said Materia was allowed!"

"You never said it wasn't, either," Sephiroth replied, laughing. Cloud just hung in mid air, frozen by a Time spell.

"Commander, let him go!" Iah yelled suddenly. Sephiroth looked at her and rolled his eyes.

"Fine. Ruin the fun, why don't you?" he replied, letting Cloud fall to the ground and holding him there with Gravity spell. Cloud struggled to break free of the spell, though it was like trying to move a ton of concrete from of his back. Sephiroth looked back at Jericho.

"Time?" he asked. The old SOLDIER smiled.

"Fifteen minutes," he replied, laughing. Sephiroth's face dropped to a look of awe.

"One for each year his is old," Lei Tien stated, smiling. "Hail Shadow!"

"Hail Shadow!" Zack, Iah, Colby, and a few others chanted. From where he lay, though, Cloud felt overwhelming defeat. And his arm hurt, dreadful pain spreading through his body. He should have never expected to win. Sephiroth released the spell's hold on him, allowing him to stand up. His glowing blue eyes made contact with Sephiroth's green. To his surprise, words slipped from his mouth. Word even he didn't understand.

"Estuns interius, ira vehementi?" Sephiroth stared at him, not understanding. But, with that, Cloud fled the room.

What he left behind was a group of shocked SOLDIERs and Colby.

"What did he say?" Zack asked anyone in the room.

"Sounded like he was speakin' Ancient…" Jericho answered. "Meanin' I ain't got a clue what he said."

"That was Ancient all right…" Lei Tien said.

"Burning inside with violent anger…" Iah muttered.

"Say again?" Zack asked.

"He said 'Burning inside with violent anger…'" Iah repeated. "But I don't know why…"

"Impossible!" Sephiroth yelled. Colby jumped about three feet into the air.

"What's impossible?" he asked.

"Cloud can't read emotions!" Sephiroth ranted. Everyone in the room was mystified, and no one knew what to say.

* * *

"Where did that come from?" Cloud muttered, walking slowly back to the room he shared with Zack and Sephiroth. His armed throbbed but he ignored it. He also noticed that his hand had a long gash where he'd grabbed Masume and flung it away. "It's not natural just to spit out a slur of gibberish, is it?"

"Depends on what you say, boy." Cloud stopped dead as the hair on his neck stood up straight.

"P-professor H-hojo…" Cloud stammered. _Great! I do NOT want to deal with this!_

"Do you always talk to yourself?" the Professor asked. Cloud knew that Hojo had some idea of who he was. He was always hanging around Zack and the other 1st class SOLDOERs, so Hojo had probably seen him a few times at least.

"Just thinking aloud, Sir."

"Of course. Well, answer this then, what did you say?"

"Nothing, Sir. Gibberish, that's it."

"What did you say?" Hojo repeated.

"Estuns interius, ira vehementi…" Cloud answered.

"WHAT?!" Cloud didn't stick around to answer. He just ran.

* * *

"You told Hojo?!" Zack exclaimed. It was after dinner, and Sephiroth still wasn't back from the kitchen. Zack and the other SOLDIERs had encouraged everyone to have seconds and thirds. Hey, tonight wasn't chicken, and Sephy-san was cleaning up, so, dig in!

"Yes…" Cloud moaned, voice muffled by his pillow.

"Why did you tell _Hojo_?" Zack asked, flabbergasted.

"You told Hojo?!" Sephiroth said, coming in.

"I GET IT ALREADY! I MESSED UP! NOW STOP REPEATING EACH OTHER!" Cloud yelled.

"If I were you, I'd high tail it to Wutai…." Sephiroth said, "And they hate SOLDIERs…"

"I'm not a SOLDIER."

"Fooled me," Zack assured. Cloud looked up at Zack for a moment before concealing his head in his pillow once more.

"I see why they call you Shadow…" Sephiroth muttered, sitting on his bed. While Cloud and Zack shared a bunk bed, Sephiroth was lucky enough to get his own bed, though it was shoved against the wall so there would be some room to walk. Zack sat on the lower bunk bed, sighing.

"Not to change the subject, but how was doing dishes, Sephy-san?" Zack asked.

"I told you not to call me that," Sephiroth grumbled, twitching slightly.

"Just answer the question."

"It was torture."

"It's not that bad," Cloud said, grinning, "Just get used to it, too. 'Cause I plan to be here awhile…"

"God help me…" Sephiroth moaned. Zack and Cloud looked at each other before laughing out loud.

* * *

Cloud sat in the infirmary a week after fighting Sephiroth, getting a check up on his shoulder and hand. Jericho, who was in charge of the place, was looking at Cloud's hand while talking.

"You did really well against him, ya know?" Jericho said. He was about 40 years old and had more grey hair than he needed for his age. Of course, making sure all the SOLDIERs around here stayed healthy was enough to drive anyone insane. Plus, Jericho was one of the only people Cloud knew who didn't look down of Shinra Soldiers as being the worst of the worst. That was one of the reasons Cloud had a high respect for him.

"Yeah, but I coulda done better…" Cloud stated quietly.

"If you do any better than that, Cloud, we might not have a SOLDIER Commander anymore," Jericho laughed. "You've made some stunning progress in the time you've been here."

"How do you know?" Cloud asked.

"Well, I watch and listen, just like you do. I can't fight anymore, as you know, but I still know what a good fighter looks like," the old SOLDIER replied. "Plus, this is the first time you've ever been to the infirmary." Cloud nodded, wincing as Jericho re-bandaged his hand.

"It'll take a while to heal…" Jericho said when he noticed Cloud was watching his hand gingerly. "It's a deep cut."

"And my shoulder?"

"Less time than the hand, but still more time then you want."

"Oh…"

"I'm surprised that you're still up and walking. Most people can't move for a week after fighting Sephiroth. He cheats, you know. Using Masume is cheating, seeing as it has a Life-Steal spell on it."

"It does? That explains why you feel like dying after getting hit once, huh?" Cloud mused.

"Yep. Hate to feel what it would be like if he actually impaled you with that thing," Jericho shivered. "Well, you can go now, but take it easy, alright?" Cloud nodded and was about to leave when two people, a scientist and a SOLDIER, walked in.

"AHA! There you are," said the SOLDIER. He was tall, with spiky black and grey hair that looked like it hadn't been brushed in years. His left eye was covered by an eye patch and he had a mustache and gotte.

"Huh?" Cloud asked, thinking he was in trouble. Jericho groaned.

"Gibbs! Move, I can't see!" came a woman's voice from behind the SOLDIER. Cloud was surprised to see a Shinra Scientist jumping up and down behind the tall man, as if trying to see over his shoulder but not being tall enough to do so. She had long, straight brown hair that had been pulled sloppily up into a pony tail, though the band she was using to hold her hair back looked about ready to break. Her clothes consisted of a white lab coat, blue jeans and a red long sleeved shirt, and tennis shoes; not what you'd think a scientist would wear.

"Commander Gibbs? Mrs. Dega?" Jericho asked, laughing.

"Ex-Commander…" Gibbs, the SOLDIER, muttered, "Woulda been a Commander if that runt Sephiroth hadn't stepped in."

"Runt? Gibbs, we've gone over this. Sephiroth is _taller_ than you," Dega corrected as she stopped jumping.

"Uh, not meaning to be rude, but…who are you people?" Cloud asked.

"Huh? Oh, sorry. Never introduced myself ta ya, midget."

"Gibbs! Be nice," Dega scolded, punching Gibbs in the shoulder.

"OW! Jericho, my shoulder hurts. Is that normal?" Gibbs asked. Jericho grinned.

"Due to the fact that Dega is your wife, yes, that's normal…" he replied. Cloud stared at them in awe.

"What? Somethin' on my face?" Gibbs questioned.

"Oh, I get it. We don't look like the normal people to get married, do we?" Dega mused, smiling politely. Cloud nodded. He just didn't see the two of them as a couple. It just didn't make sense to him, but he didn't say anything.

"Why did you come looking for Cloud anyway?" Jericho asked, changing the subject.

"Cloud? Yer name's Cloud? Cloud what?" Gibbs asked.

"Strife, Sir."

"Hm, fits," Gibbs muttered.

"Huh?"

"Yer the kid who beat Sephiroth, right?"

"No Sir, he beat me…" Cloud replied, wishing the SOLDIER hadn't brought it up.

"Not how I heard it," Gibbs stated, in an I'm-right-your-wrong kind of tone.

"How'd you hear it?" Jericho asked. "And Cloud, you did win, by the way."

"No I didn't, he pinned me to the floor with a gravity spell."

"And your still alive?!" Dega asked, shocked.

"Last time I checked…" Cloud replied slowly. Gibbs roared with laughter.

"That crazed scientist and blocks-for-brains President have really lost it. I bet they're scared of you, kid. No wonder yer not a SOLDIER. They wouldn't want any competition for their beloved Commander, now would they?" Gibbs ranted, grinning. Sephiroth walked in during his ranting, and immediately glared at him.

"Gibbs…what a…pleasure it is to see you again," he said coldly. Gibbs stopped laughing.

"Twiggy! How've you been?" he countered, grinning like a mad man.

"Here they go again…" Dega muttered, sitting down on the bed next to Cloud.

"What'cha doin' here, Stick boy? Come to wreck the day?"

"I came to check on Cloud, but it seems you've already drove him to insanity."

"I'm fine, actually…" Cloud pointed out, but he was pretty sure he was being ignored by everyone except Dega and Jericho.

"Check on the kid? Oh, you mean to apologize, right Leaf for Brains?" Gibbs mused.

"Apologize for what?" Sephiroth countered.

"Woundin' 'im, Bark Butt."

"Wounding him? It was a fight, a duel. One must know he will get hurt before stepping into the ring, or else he'll end up dead! Cloud knew the risks, so I have nothing to apologize for."

"You keep talkin' like that, and I'll start callin' ya Hojo….Hojo."

"I'm not that insane maniac!"

"You're being redundant."

"It would be ironic if Hojo walked in right now…" Dega mused, following the argument between her husband and Sephiroth with her eyes, a grin planted on her face. Finally, she stood up and, in a voice that didn't seem to fit such a petit scientist, ordered:

"Gibbs, act you age! Sephiroth, act you intelligence!" Both men stopped fighting and stared at her, looking guilty. Gibbs made eye contact with Cloud, who was watching him. Only what seemed like a minute afterwards, Gibbs tore his eyes away, looking at the wall.

"CREEPY!" he said, shivering. "Vince woulda liked ya….Creepy eyed squirt…"

"My eyes aren't creepy, they're normal," Cloud said, looking confused. Dega got up and knelt in front of Cloud, staring into his eyes. Cloud stared back, confused.

"You want Gibbs to shave his mustache and gotte because they make him look stupid? And you think of Sephiroth as a son?" Cloud inquired.

"What?!" Sephiroth and Jericho yelped.

"You think my mustache makes me look stupid?!" Gibbs cried, sounding hurt.

"Now how did you know that?" Dega asked calmly.

"You just told me, ma'am."

"Cloud, Dega didn't say anything…." Jericho stated. Sephiroth felt jealousy weighing in on his brain.

"What are you jealous for? I'm the lowest of the low!" Cloud shouted at Sephiroth, standing up. He grabbed his helmet and stormed out of the room.

"There he goes again, reading emotions…" Sephiroth groaned.

"Not emotions, Sephiroth…" Dega corrected. "Minds."

"Just like you, Turnkey," Gibbs stated. "Just like you."

* * *

"Sephy-san told me ya read minds, Shadow," Zack said. He, Cloud, Iah Ling, and Lei Tien were playing poker. Sephiroth was doing dishes in the next room.

"I can not," Cloud countered, looking at his cards and trying not to make eye contact with anyone.

"Well, I think you can," Zack said, "That's why you always beat me at Chess."

"Zack, you suck at Chess," Iah muttered.

"Your point?" Zack mused.

"You can't prove that Cloud can read minds by him beating you in Chess."

"So how can we prove it?"

"I don't want you to prove it!" Cloud retorted.

"Tell us what everyone's cards are, Cloud," Iah stated.

"No way! I've got a good hand!" Zack stated.

"You have a two, a nine, a jack, an ace and...a joker? Lei Tien, you didn't get the jokers out of the deck," Cloud said.

"How the crap did you do that?"

"You told me what cards you had."

"Did not."

"Did too!"

"What does Lei have?" Iah asked.

"Full house. Three fours and two fives."

"I suppose she told you too?"

"Yup…"

"And me?"

"Royal Flush…I fold," Cloud stated. Zack and Lei Tien did the same.

"It's official, Cloud can read minds…." Lei said.

"No no no! I can't!" Cloud muttered. "Sephiroth, shut up."

"I didn't say anything," Sephiroth stated, sitting down next to Iah Ling. Cloud slammed his head on the table.

"My life sucks," Cloud moaned.

"What he say?" Zack asked.

"That you remind him of a girl…"

"WHAT?!"

"Run, Sephy-san, Run…" Lei Tien said, laughing.

"No thanks, I'll pass…" yawned Sephiroth.

"Chocobo," Zack muttered.

"Flirt," replied Sephiroth.

"Am not!"

"Actually, you are. Isn't Aries your fourth girlfriend this month?"

"No, she ain't. She's been my girlfriend for two month you idiot."

"So who was the Junon girl you were talking too?" Sephiroth asked.

"Oh, I asked him to give her a letter for me, my bad," Iah said.

"And the girl in Gongaga you were flirting with?" Lei asked, grinning.

"I wasn't flirting!"

"You kissed her cheek!" Lei Tien continued.

"That was my mom!" Iah just about chocked on her pop when he said that. Sephiroth ran from the room. He came back five minutes later, red in the face from embracement, and a short of breath from laughing so hard. Cloud fell from his seat, laughing until he just about passed out.

"That'll make my mom laugh when I see her again. You all thought she was my girlfriend…" laughed Zack. "She's taken, ya know."

"Who is?" Hojo asked, coming in.

"Here he comes to kill us all…" Cloud whispered out of the side of his mouth. Sephiroth snorted.

"What'cha want?" Iah asked.

"I need to borrow Sephiroth for a minute. Is he busy?" Hojo asked. Cloud looked over at Sephiroth.

"_Make him go away…"_ Cloud thought Sephiroth muttered.

"_Why?"_ Cloud asked.

"_Who are you?! This is my head!"_

"_Wha…? I-it's me, Cloud!"_

"_Cloud? Make him go away, would you?"_

"_Who?"_

"_Hojo…Please?"_

Cloud snapped out of it and looked at Hojo.

"He can't, he's busy."

"Doing what?" Hojo sputtered. Cloud looked over at Sephiroth again, who was now smirking.

"Doing dishes…" Cloud started.

"He's got chores to do…" Zack put in.

"We have training in a couple minutes…" Lei vouched.

"He's takin' me on a date!" Iah yelled. Silence filled the room. Cloud looked from Sephiroth to Iah and back again.

"_Really?"_

"_She's joking, I think…"_

"_Can she not be joking…Dang! You didn't hear that…tell anyone and your…"_

"_I get it!"_ Cloud looked at Iah, gesturing toward the door with his head. Sephiroth stood up, followed by Iah Ling.

"Yes, sorry to foil…I mean, avoid…I mean, leave so soon, but we must be off," Sephiroth said. Iah came over and took his arm. Cloud and the others could tell she was trying either not to laugh or not to vomit. One of the two.

"Out of the way, please," Iah struggled to say. With that, they left the room. Hojo followed after, turning down the opposite hallway.

Four minutes later, Iah and Sephiroth came back in. They were greeted by a chorus of laughter.

"Why did I say that? I need soap!" Iah screeched.

"You need soap? Even acting like you were my girlfriend made me sick! I hate to know what it would be like if you really were my girlfriend!"

"The day I am your girlfriend is the day the Meteor falls again and I impale myself on the toothpick you call a sword!"

"Toothpick?! At least mine aren't steak knives."

"Their Crescent Blades, you imbecile!"

"Ohh…The lovers are fighting…" Zack said. Lei Tien and Cloud grinned.

"We are not!" Iah Ling and Sephiroth said.

"Stop repeating what I say!" Sephiroth retorted.

"Repeating?! I said it first!" Iah replied. Cloud smiled to himself, watching the fight continue. In the end, Lei Tien and Zack had both been needed to stop Iah from charging Sephiroth. They drug her out of the room and towards the bunk rooms while Sephiroth went to the library. Cloud looked around the empty room, admitting to himself that reading minds could be useful, seeing as he now had blackmail on his Commander. With that, he got up and went to bed.

* * *

The next day it was raining, meaning everyone had to stay inside. That made most of the SOLDIERs very antsy, which made them prone to pull pranks on each other or the Shinra Soldiers forced to be with him. Two of those people where Cloud and Colby.

"You read the Commander's mind? No way!" Colby replied, grinning. Cloud nodded. He was telling his friend all about what had happened the night before. To his surprise, Colby had believed him.

"That's so cool!" laughed Colby. Cloud shrugged, watching the rain fall outside the window.

"Where were you last night, Colby?"

"Midgar. Had to deliver something for Zack to his girlfriend."

"Aries?"

"Yeah. She's really somethin', you know?" Colby said, smiling, "She gave me a flower, too!" To prove he wasn't lying, Colby held up the small, pink flower for Cloud to see.

"Where'd she find a flower in Midgar?" Cloud asked, staring at the flower to see if it was real.

"She grows 'um. It's really cool. One second, you'll be in the Sector 5 slums, the next; you're in some kind of magical world. She some how got sunlight to filter through!"

"Amazing. I've heard Midgar is the closest thing to a floating city you can get, so I bet it's really dark."

"Dark doesn't even begin to cover it…" Colby said.

"So, I guess a flower girl in Midgar is a once in a lifetime thing, right?" Cloud mused.

"You gots that right. Hope you get to meet her one day, Cloud. You'd like her, me thinks…" Colby said.

"Yeah, she'd be a nice friend by the sound of it," Cloud agreed.

"So what 'cha want to do today?" Colby asked. Before Cloud could reply, a group of SOLDIERs came up to them and pushed Cloud to the ground, forcing him to land on his bad shoulder.

"Cloud!" Colby yelled, but before he could do anything, one of the SOLDIERs punched him across the face, causing him to fly back and hit the wall.

"_COLBY!"_

"_Thank God for helmets…"_

"Looky here, it the SOLDIER that never was," The leader of the group laughed. Cloud cringed, trying to get up.

"You're not goin' anywhere, Grunt. You're where you belong, bowing to those better than you…" the leader continued. He kicked out, causing Cloud to block him with his hand. Fortunately, he was able to block the kick. Unfortunately, he blocked it with the hand that was still healing. Searing pain flew through his body, causing Cloud to scream.

"_Cloud! Hold on, mate!"_ It was Colby again, yelling to Cloud through his mind.

"_I-I'm ok…It doesn't hurt…"_ Another SOLDIER kicked Cloud again. Cloud tried to get up again but the leader put his foot on his neck and slammed Cloud to the floor.

"Break it up!" someone yelled.

"_Lei!"_

"_C-Cloud! Are you alright?!"_ Lei Tien broke through the line of SOLDIERs, causing most of them to disperse to get away. The leader wasn't quick enough, so Lei round kicked him in the gut to get him off Cloud. She helped him up gingerly, hoping he wasn't injured too seriously.

"A-are you ok?" she asked.

"I'm fine, ma'am…" Cloud replied. Colby walked over, holding the side of his face with one hand and his helmet with the other.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I'm fine…" Cloud said, walking past her. Truth was he was both hurt physically and mentally.

* * *

"_I'm worthless…I can't even save myself…"_ he thought, walking down the hallway toward his room. He walked past Hojo, who saw him bleeding.

"You! Shinra Soldier!" Hojo called, "Go to the Infirmary!"

"I don't take orders from the mentally insane…" Cloud replied.

"_That little brat! How dare he talk to me that way!?"_ Cloud heard Hojo sputter in his mind.

"I can talk to you anyway I want…" he muttered, holding his shoulder and walking away from an astonished Hojo.

* * *

"You guys seen Spiky?" Zack asked, sitting down at the table. Iah didn't look up from her book. Colby, who was taking a nap on the table, shrugged. Sephiroth shrugged as well. Lei was the only one who spoke up.

"Did you check the Infirmary?" she asked.

"Yup," Zack replied.

"How about yer guys' room?" Colby yawned.

"Nope, haven't checked there. I'll be right back…" Zack got up and left.

He was back no more than five minutes later. And he didn't look happy.

"What's up?" Iah asked, looking up from her book. (Finally)

"Cloud's gone…" Zack said, throwing a piece of paper on the table. "I found that on his helmet. His stuff's all packed, but he ain't there…" Iah, Lei, Sephiroth, and Colby looked at the piece of paper. There was only one word on it.

"Sorry…" read Sephiroth.

"Sorry?" Lei asked. Zack shrugged.

"That's not the whole letter…" Colby stated. Iah nodded, putting her hand on the letter. It began to glow. The glow died down, reviling more writing. It read:

_**Dear anyone.**_

_**I know now the meaning of 'worthlessness'. I never should have been born. I'm sorry.**_

_**With no other reason to live,**_

_**Cloud Strife.**_

"What does that mean?" Colby asked, wide awake. Before anyone could answer, Gibbs and Dega ran into the room. Actually, Gibbs slid past the room and into the wall and Dega ran in.

"Why is Cloud on the roof?!" Dega asked.

"What?!" the four SOLDIERs and one Shinra Soldier yelled.

"I'm fine, don't worry about me!" Gibbs stated from the hallway.

* * *

"The rain's gone now…" Cloud muttered, staring down at the ground, more than five stories away. He sighed and leaned back against the wall of the building, wrapping his arms around his legs. Why was he hesitating?

* * *

Zack and the others ran up the stairs, trying to get to the roof in the fastest way possible. Zack was in front, and Gibbs was way in the back.

"I hate running!" Gibbs retorted.

"Get over it!" Iah yelled, taking the lead. They'd made it to the roof.

"CLOUD!" Lei yelled. Sephiroth caught sight of him, standing on the edge of the highest place within an twenty mile radius. It was a long way down.

"What are you doing?!" Sephiroth ordered. Cloud stood up with a jolt, looking at them with sullen eyes.

"You shouldn't have come…" he muttered.

"Well, we're here now. Don't move! We'll come to get you," Dega said in her best motherly tone.

"I don't want you to get me…" Cloud replied, wincing.

"Have you lost your mind, boy?!" Gibbs screeched. Cloud smiled, but there was no feeling behind it. Just a hollow look coming from someone who swore he shouldn't exist.

"Cloud, don't do this!" Lei Tien pleaded.

"I shouldn't exist. I'm worthless…"

"Don't say that! You're not!" Zack said, clenching his fists.

"You're words mean nothing now…" Cloud muttered, turning away from them.

"Cloud, don't you dare…" Iah started. She never finished. Cloud turned back to look at them and smiled again, tears streaming from the fifteen-year-old's eyes.

"Goodbye…" he said, pushing off the top of the building and beginning his descent.

* * *

"Tseng, drive faster would you?" Rufus moaned. He was beginning to fall asleep, the trip was taking so long. They were spoused to be in Junon by tomorrow. "Don't make me get Reno to drive."

"I wanna drive!" Reno grinned, prodding Tseng in the neck. Tseng slammed on the brakes.

"Hey!" Rude yelled, waking up from his nap.

"What's the hold up?" Rufus asked, rubbing the place on his head where it had hit the dashboard.

"Someone just jumped from the top of the SOLDIER base…" Tseng said, unbuckling his seat belt and exiting the car. The others did the same. Rufus, Reno, Tseng, and Rude stood motionless as they saw a tiny figure plummet from the top of the building.

"What is going on?!" Reno said in awe.

* * *

"CLOUD!" someone screamed, but Cloud was too far down to tell who it was. The wind covered up most sounds, rushing past his ears as he plunged towards the ground.

_I don't want to die…_ he thought suddenly. That almost made him laugh. He should have thought about that _before_ he'd jumped. Then he heard it.

"_CLOUD! No!" _It was Lei Tien. She was crying.

"_He was my friend. I though he was great! Didn't he know that?!"_ Colby too,

"_I thought of him as a little brother…"_ Iah Ling was crying out.

"_I'm not going to let him die!"_ Zack's anger about letting him jump was getting the better of him.

"_Why?"_ Sephiroth's hollow voice rang in his head. The thoughts of his friends resonated throughout his head. Suddenly, a surge of power went through him. He didn't know what was going on, but suddenly, he stopped falling. There was a bright flash of green light that followed. Squinting, he looked to his left and just about died.

A wing?!

* * *

Rufus and his Turks shielded their eyes. When the light cleared, they were amazed.

"Si-Sir…h-he's flying…" Tseng stammered. Silence followed before Rufus replied.

"Not a word to anyone…" he said.

"Yes sir!" the Turks replied. With that, the group continued on to Junon, not sure of what they'd seen.

* * *

Cloud navigated back towards the roof, wing beating rhythmically. There was only one black, bat like wing, but it seemed to do the trick. He landed, looking at the tear-streaked faces of his friends. They stared back at him.

"C-C-Cloud?!" Lei stammered, running up to him and giving him a hug. The others joined in, happy to see their friend alive. Even Gibbs and Dega joined in. Sephiroth, on the other hand, stayed out. He watched them with astonishment, Cloud's one wing in his sights.

"Look!" Colby said, poking Cloud's wing, "He's a bat!"

"More like a blind bat on steroids," Gibbs pointed out.

"You mean a vampire, right?" Dega checked.

"It's the opposite of Sephiroth's…" Iah said. Everyone got quiet and looked at her, even Sephiroth.

"What?" Zack asked. His hand was firmly placed on Cloud's shoulder, preventing him from going anywhere.

"One wing, on his left side. A demon wing," Iah stated, "Sephiroth has one wing, an _angel_ wing on his _right_ side."

Cloud looked at the wing extending from his shoulder. Then he looked at Sephiroth.

"That's creepy…" he said. The people on the roof burst out laughing as the rain began to fall again.

"Let's get inside, shall we?" Dega asked. Zack dragged Cloud by his wing into the base, followed by Colby, Iah Ling, Lei Tien, Dega, and Gibbs. Sephiroth stayed on the roof, looking at the darkened sky.

There was a weird feeling that was welling up inside him. He didn't understand it. It was like he felt _threatened_ by Cloud.

Sephiroth burst out laughing. Cloud? A _threat_? With the ability to kill him, the greatest SOLDIER of all time? Yeah right!

With that, he followed his friends back into the base.

* * *

Far away, in the Lifestream, a being known as the Watcher smiled behind his hood. Standing up and walking toward a room full of hourglasses, he laughed. It was a surprisingly young laugh, for the man did not seem young in appearence. He picked out a black hourglass and walked back to his desk. Turning over the glass, he nodded.

"It has begun."

* * *

**Cloud's actually speaking Latin here, and they're part of the song lyrics for "One Winged Angel"**

**A/N: **Thank you!


	2. Chapter 2

**Okay, so I lied. This isn't a one-shot. Actually, now it's an AU series, so there, I said it! Thanks for stickin' with me, those of you who came back. - Things'll start to get weird soon, so let's see how it goes. This picks up two days after the one shot ended. **

**THANK YOU INFINITE DEVIL MACHINE! YOU KNOW WHY!**

**Enjoy!**

**No, I don't own Square-enix or its francises. Yes, I want to. No, I probably never will.**

* * *

To Grow Wings

Cloud stared up out the sunroof window directly over his bed. Supposedly, Zack had installed it because "the room just wasn't bright enough." Cloud didn't pay the window any mind at first, he was only glad that it didn't leak. Especially with the torrential rain they were getting, but he found himself staring out at the moon more often than he'd admit.

He couldn't see the moon that night, it was held captive behind some of the ominous rain clouds. Speaking of the rain, it'd been pouring for two whole days. Ever since . . .

Cloud had heard of failed suicide attempts, but what had happed to him was just ridiculous.

He groaned slightly, thinking about it. When Zack had drug him off the roof, the first place he'd taken him was infirmary. Everyone else had, naturally, stuck close by. He didn't know how they'd done it without catching the attention of everyone in the base, for his wing was still jutting out of his back like a grotesque signpost. Jericho had literally dropped everything when the group had burst in, his jaw included. He'd stared at Cloud for nearly twenty minutes before timidly asking if he could touch it. _The wing._ Cloud had allowed him, and Sephiroth had scoffed.

"This is not a _circus_, Jericho," he had hissed, irritated. Jericho had ignored him, instead expressing his amazement that Cloud's wing was _natural_. That is, no scientific experiments were involved. Sephiroth had stormed the room after that. Cloud had wanted to go after him, to apologize, but Dega refused to let him get out of bed. They made him sleep the rest of the night in the infirmary," to make sure he hadn't caught anything while sitting on the roof," they had said. Cloud knew it was just to make sure he wouldn't _try _anything else. For what _other_ reason would Zack have spent the night camped out in front of the door?

But Cloud wasn't to keen on trying to repeat his _newest_ failure.

And, of course, everyone in the base had heard of his failed suicide attempt by morning. Well, they only knew most of the story; the only people who knew about the wing were those who'd been on the roof and those who'd been in the infirmary when they'd made their entrance. Everyone else assumed Sephiroth had jumped off after Cloud and pulled him back onto the roof.

As always, Sephiroth was the hero. No one ever seemed to think Sephiroth could be anything _but _the hero. It was beginning to grate on Cloud's nerves.

The hazing had gained momentum, and now it was almost outright beatings that he had to endure. The other SOLDIERs had deemed his newest failure their newest reason to torture him. The constant torment had just about driven him mad, and the day ended with him running from the cafeteria with his hands over his head. He'd spent the whole day hiding in the infirmary. Finally, at the end of the day, he'd snuck back to the room he shared with the General and Zack.

It always seemed to go this way. Cloud found himself the target of torment and ridicule, no matter what he did. "Know your place," he was often venomously reminded.

What if there was _no_ place for him?

He shifted to one side, shrugging his shoulders uncomfortably. The wing was gone now, but Cloud could still _feel_ it there, right under his skin. It was an itch he couldn't scratch, and it was driving him mad. The wing, the _demon_ wing.

_I was cursed from the beginning, wasn't I?_ He thought miserably. Scowling at himself, he closed his eyes and let the darkness take him.

* * *

_Cloud opened his eyes and found himself surrounded by white mist. He looked at his feet and saw them connect with a dusty hardwood floor. On the floor was a large white calk circle; He stood in its center. The mist cleared and revealed a small room: no windows or doors. The walls were obscured by shelves filled with books, many of which had titles written in what looked like ancient runes. Various clocks hung where there wasn't a shelf. No two clocks were alike; all were of a different make and model, and no two were set to the same time. One, Cloud noticed, had not only a second, minute, and hour hand, but a day, week, month, and year hand as well. _

_The clocks echoed in the silent room, an almost deafening sound. Cloud resisted the urge cover his ears. _

_His eyes wandered from the shelves and toward the opposite wall. There was a table set with tea for two. Near the cups sat an hourglass with blue-white sand and an ornate silver frame. He stared, transfixed by the object, and noticed it must have just recently been turned._

"_Welcome." Cloud jumped slightly at the voice and tore his eyes from the hourglass. Sitting next to the table was an armchair that Cloud swore hadn't been there before. In it sat a figure cloaked in darkness. All Cloud could see was a pair of bone-white hands, clasped together. Cloud took a step back. The figure shook its head, and Cloud understood it posed no threat. He stopped his retreat. _

"_Who are you?" he called out. No reply. "Where am I?" Still, only the ticking clocks seemed to hear him. _

_The figure finally moved again. Resting one arm on the armrest, it pointed with the other towards Cloud's feet. Cloud glanced down nervously. He could no longer see the chalk circle; it'd been swallowed by dancing wisps of fog. He watched them, fascinated, as they looped aimlessly around his ankles. Seconds stretched on, until he could finally see they had some goal behind their wanderings. Wisps grew into long tendrils, and Cloud couldn't tear his eyes away as he watched them snake around themselves and eventually form three distinguishable masses. _

_They slowly formed a triangle, centered around him. He threw a helpless glance back to the armchair, but it offered him nothing._

_It was beginning to freak him out. He _hated_ being the center of attention. _

_After a long while, the figure gestured toward the masses. __One, two, three . . . and then a cold white finger targeted Cloud. Cloud shifted from foot to foot. He could almost feel the heat from its stare, though he wasn't even sure if it had eyes or not._

"_What?" Cloud pointed at himself. "What is it? Do... you want me... to choose one?"_

_The shadows shifted, and the entity gave a vague impression of a slow nod. _

"_It has begun," the figure said. His voice was barely above a whisper but it echoed throughout the room. "Choose wisely, but take your time..."_

_Cloud looked around. The mist still settled over the three...objects, he guessed. _

"_But I can't see anything!" Cloud cried out. There was no immediate response. Did it not hear him?_

"_Choose wisely,"__ the shadow finally reiterated._

"_How can I choose wisely if I can't see what I'm choosing?!" Cloud nearly yelled angrily. "And who are you?! What's going on?! Why am I here?!" _

_There was no reply. _

"_I'm leaving!" Cloud declared, turning to leave._

"_Goodbye, Cloud." He stopped, fear creeping through his skin._

"_How...?"_

* * *

"Cloud! Wake up man!" Zack shook Cloud lightly.

"Wha...huh...?" Cloud opened his eyes. Zack was staring at him, head cocked to the side.

"Mornin' Spike! Thought you'd never wake up," Zack smiled. Cloud groaned and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes.

"Good morning Zack," he mumbled.

"Dude, you were sleeping like a rock! I thought you might have been in a coma or something!" Behind him, Sephiroth snorted at the absurdity of the conversation.

"Zack, you are aware that you've only just woken up yourself?" the General mused.

"Yeah, so? Cloud's usually the first one up! He even beats you by like ten minutes and is up and dressed before you even wake up from la-la land," Zack retorted. "So, naturally, I feared the worst." Sephiroth shook his head.

"I'm... fine," Cloud said, sitting up. _I think_...he thought to himself.

"You sure?" Zack asked. He nodded. Zack looked unconvinced, but didn't press the matter any further. Instead he began to babble on happily about how today was "French toast for breakfast day!!" Cloud only half listened as he made his bed very carefully (he'd fallen off twice trying to make his bed look nice...sometimes it sucked to have the top bunk). He found that he really didn't have any appetite.

It was then he noticed the room had gone quiet, if only for a moment. Zack must have run out on his quest for his breakfast and forgotten about the other occupants of the room. Cloud listened as he heard Zack running back.

"Cloud, you comin'?" Zack asked suddenly, poking his head back into the room. Cloud looked up and shook his head.

"I'm not hungry," he replied quietly.

"How can you _not_ have an appetite on French toast day?!" Zack looked appalled. "It's like the best food in the world!"

"Zack, that is a matter of opinion," Sephiroth drawled. Zack gave him a look that said "does it look like I'm talking to you?" and waved the comment off. Sephiroth shrugged and left the room.

"Cloud, is everything alright?" Zack asked. Cloud looked over at him, and saw that Zack was standing there with his arms crossed over his chest. Concern had eaten away at his happy mood, deviously replacing it with worry towards his friend.

"I'm fine," Cloud repeated.

"Bull shit."

"Zack..."

"Look Cloud, I know when you're messed up, kay? And right now, you ain't normal. So, I'm gonna go get us some breakfast and bring it back here. When I get back, you better be ready to spill your guts. Alright?" Zack tapped his foot expectantly.

"Fine," Cloud muttered, defeated. "But promise you won't think I'm crazy?" Zack chuckled.

"Everyone's crazy here, Cloud," he said, walking out of the room.

* * *

Cloud convinced himself that if he told someone about the dream, it probably wouldn't bother him again. So when Zack came back with two heaping plates of breakfast, he was prepared to tell his friend everything. First Zack made him eat, though. Cloud still didn't have an appetite, but he stomached enough of the food to make his friend happy.

"Alright, so spill. What's buggin' you?" Zack asked, stacking the empty plates by the door.

"The dream I had last night," Cloud said. Zack nodded.

"A nightmare?"

"I don't really know," Cloud answered. "See, it started out with all this white mist..." With that, Cloud told Zack everything he could remember about the dream. About the room with the white calk circle, the tea set, the clocks, the recently turned hourglass on the table, the figure watching him from the chair, the three objects shrouded in mist, and what the man said.

"'It has begun'?" Zack repeated after the story was over. "_What_ has begun?"

"Hell if I know," Cloud muttered. "And I think that guy expects me to know. But I don't. How can I choose something when I don't even know what I'm choosing...or why?"

"Maybe you're not supposed to know what you're choosing until you choose it," Zack suggested, leaning back against the wall and watching Cloud's reaction.

"What if I choose the wrong thing?" Cloud asked, paranoid suddenly. Would something terrible happen if he choose the wrong thing?

"Don't worry about that. It's just a dream, right?" Zack didn't sound too convinced himself.

"But what if it isn't? What if it's foreshadowing or... something?! Zack, don't you think it's weird that I've had this dream only after I tried to commit suicide?" Zack winced but said nothing. "I mean, what am I supposed to do? This is starting to freak me out!"

"You know what I think?" Zack said, nodding to himself.

"What?"

"We need help."

"We?"

"Yes, you and me. We're in this together now, buddy," Zack clapped Cloud on the back, smiling. "But we need some help. I vaguely remember Lei Tien talking about something that sounds like your dream. And anyway, she's good at this stuff..."

"What stuff?" Cloud asked.

"You know, the paranormal and all. Lei and her older sister Iah are from Cosmo Canyon, remember? So maybe Lei knows some legends or something that can help us out."

"Why don't we go to _Iah_ for help then? Isn't she the one who practices her customs more often than Lei?"

"We're not going to ask Iah for help because she's evil. She's like Sephiroth, ya know? Only, while Sephiroth blatantly denies the fact that he might be a woman, Iah openly accepts it. Lei is so much nicer, 'cause she actually has a heart. Her sister's was replaced with a lump of coal, I'm afraid." Cloud snickered slightly.

"Will she think I'm crazy?" Cloud asked, frowning.

"Probably not. In fact, I bet she'll be so happy to hear we want to be told some legends that she'll be bouncing off the walls!"

"But..."

"No buts! Let's go!" Zack ordered, dragging Cloud from the room.

* * *

They found Lei camped out in her room, reading a magazine. Iah was also in the room, cleaning what Zack called "her side" of the room. Cloud noticed a lot of SOLDIERs didn't do much when it was raining, choosing to slack off on the dreary days and relax (or clean, in Iah's case).

"Hey Iah! Hey Lei!" Zack said, walking into the room. Cloud timidly remained out in the hallway.

"There's a door for you to knock on, Zack," Iah scolded.

"Said door was open," Zack replied. "Hey Cloud, come on in, and stay awhile!" he added when he noticed the unwilling soldier behind him.

"You can come in Cloud," Iah coaxed. Seeing that he now had permission, Cloud entered the room.

"Hiya guys!" Lei said, putting down her magazine. "Cloud-sama, Zai-chan! It's good ta see ya both! What brings ya two to our neck of the woods, huh?"

"Do you have any books on legends we could borrow, Lei?" Zack asked as Cloud looked around in awe. The room was filled with artifacts and icons from Cosmo Canyon. There were carvings and dream catchers and all sorts of things. The beds were even covered in what looked like hand made quilts.

"Like the room, Cloud-sama?" Lei said, smiling. "It's based off our rooms back home."

"It's really nice Lei Tien," Cloud replied, blushing slightly at being acknowledged.

"Thanks! You know, one day I'll take you to Cosmo. I bet you'll like it there. Maybe I could even get you to meet Seto and Nanaki," Lei nodded. "Anyway, legends huh? What type?"

"There are...different types?" Zack and Cloud said together.

"Yeah, there are legends about creations, some about the end of the world, some about Meteorfall, some about the Cetra, some about the people of the Sky and the people of the Fish, some about..."

"People of the Sky? People of the Fish?" Zack asked, looking amused.

"Uh huh. Sky people are good, Fish people are bad," Lei replied. "Personally, I think Sephiroth is a Fish person. And you, Cloud-sama, are a Sky person."

"Lei, you're being absurd," Iah scolded.

"Why?" Lei asked, but Iah just shook her head. Cloud instantly wondered what a "Sky person" was, and why he wasn't good enough to be one.

"Well...what are your favorite legends, Lei?" Zack asked. He didn't want to see his plan fail, but it would be years before he and Cloud could decipher all those legends.

"My favorite? Oh, those are the ones about The Watcher." Iah groaned.

"What's wrong?" Cloud asked, shifting nervously from foot to foot.

"The Watcher is the most hypocritical character in all the legends. It says he's neutral, but he always sides with those who are considered 'good.'"

"So he's a nice guy," Lei said stubbornly.

"The legends say that he will also be helpful to all people, yet he chooses favorites," Iah retorted.

"Name one!"

"Chi Ka Strife, the hero from the last Meteorfall."

"Strife?" Cloud cut in, nervously.

"There's probably no relation," Iah snapped. Cloud shrank away from her. Lei pouted.

"Why do you care?" she asked her sister. "I'm just tellin' them _stories_, and Zack asked me to tell him my favorite!"

"Sisterly love, you can never predict it," Zack whispered to Cloud.

Luckily for Cloud and Zack, Colby ran in at that moment, covered in what looked chocolate milk.

"Colby...what _happened_ to you?" Iah asked, tone harsh but calm. Lei's eyes widened as she held back laughter and Cloud and Zack exchanged a look.

"Ma'am, with all due respect, can you stop the food fight in the cafeteria? It's SOLDIERs verse Grunts again, and we're getting killed. They haven't started throwing chairs yet, but it's only a matter of time. I mean, they threw me and Vinia in a trashcan!"

"Who started it?"

"The SOLDIERs, who else?" Colby said. "But does that matter?"

"No, I'll get on it right now," Iah stated, heading for the door.

"Wait, where is Sephiroth? Isn't keeping order _his_ job?" Zack asked.

(By this point, Cloud was glad he hadn't set foot in the cafeteria this morning. Something in the back of his mind told him that he'd have been a primary target in this particular fight, had he been around.)

"I don't know, but can someone help the Grunts?" Colby said, ringing milk out of his hair and frowning.

"Come on Colby!" Iah shouted. Colby waved and ran after her.

"Glad you're not there, Cloud?" Lei asked quietly. Cloud nodded. "Well...um, do you guys still want to hear stories, or was that to stay out of the food fight?"

"We didn't even know about the food fight," Zack said. "So yeah, stories would be nice."

"Okay then...Take a seat, I'll find one of the books that talks about the Keeper of Time," Lei said, nodding. Zack sat on Iah's bed; Cloud sat on the floor. Zack cast a sideways glance at Cloud, grinning. His eyes said everything, but Cloud read his mind to make sure they were thinking the same thing.

_Keeper of time, Eh Spike? Sound close to our mystery dude with his clocks and hourglass?_ Zack thought, aware Cloud was reading his mind. Cloud subtly nodded.

"I thought we were talking about The Watcher," Zack inquired.

"He's both," Lei said, hefting out an old tome. "Here we are!" She nodded happily. She started flipping through pages as she sat next to Zack. "Cloud, sit on the other side of me, kay?" Cloud got up and sat next to Lei, looking over her shoulder. Zack did the same while reaching over to poke Cloud's shoulder.

_Look at the cover, _Zack told Cloud. He did as he was told and tried to hide his shock.

On the cover of Lei's book, in the center of a white drawn circle, was the silver hourglass.

**A/N: And, that's the end of chapter two. Sucks to be all of you, don't it? I normally don't do cliffhangers, either. Ohs well. What did you think? **

**Comments? Questions? Sugguestions? Reviews? Flames? All are welcome, but the last one will be thrown at Gravemind! **

**Thank you!**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Hi again! I'm amazed. The longer this thing stays out, the more people acutally start to read it...-sweat dropplet- I guess that means more people are probably mad at me for not updating in so long. Sorry! **

**Oh, I hope this chapter is good. It hasn't been beta-read yet. **

**Same disclamers apply, as always. **

* * *

To Grow Wings

Cloud continued to stare at the cover of the book, eyes widening slightly. The hourglass...

"Okay, so what should we start with, huh?" Lei chimed, smiling happily. Cloud shook his head to clear his thoughts while Zack replied.

"Why don't you just pick one and we'll go from there," he stated, winking at Cloud. Cloud didn't wink back; he was trying to ignore the horrible feeling that had rooted itself in the pit of his stomach. He was nervous, but he really didn't know why.

"Sure!" Lei giggled, flipping through the book excitedly. "Here we go!" she motioned for Cloud and Zack to lean closer again. "This one will give you a little Cosmo history too." She took a deep breath and started reading.

"'Legends say after the creation of the Canyon, Our Lady Cosmos was visited by a mysterious man. This man claimed he was from a tribe called 'The People of the Sea,' and requested somewhere to take refuge for the approaching night. Lady Cosmos was happy to oblige but her advisors were not. They sent the man away. The next night a different man came, claiming this time to be from a different tribe: 'The People of the Sky.' The advisors were quick to try to send this man away as well, but Lady Cosmos wouldn't have it. Instead she invited the man into the deeper Canyon and...'"

"Hey, sorry to interrupt, but you lost me back after the whole 'People of the Sea' thing," Zack cut in. "I mean, what's this all got to do with this 'Watcher' guy?"

"I think the 'People of the Sea' are what Lei called the 'Fish People,'" Cloud explained. "But after that, I got lost too. Why were the advisors so against outsiders staying the night? Why were there two men instead of one? Which one is the 'Watcher' anyway...?" Cloud paused in his questions and looked up at Lei. "Sorry Lei...I guess I don't know enough about your culture to understand your legends..."

Lei looked up from the book and peered at Cloud. Without warning she closed the book and hit Cloud on the head with it.

"Ow! What was that for?" Cloud moaned, holding his head.

"Don't apologize! It's my fault for jumping right into the cryptic-pit! Sheesh, Cloud! Stop taking the blame for everyone else!" Lei fumed. Then she calmed down and smiled again. "You know what? I'll tell you a more straightforward legend. Well, it's more like a folktale. Or maybe it's a..."

"I don't care what it is, just as long as it makes more sense," Zack stated, leaning back. "Fire away!"

"Right, so this story was told to me when I was just a little girl. It all occurred about fifty years ago, in a little town called Tsiven..."

~*~*~*~*~

_Amalee sighed as she looked around the dingy bar. She had worked here for the last ten years and where had that gotten her? Nowhere. She yawned, mentally cursing slow days like this. And, if it was possible, this day was _slower_ than the rest of the slow days, because of the downpour outside. Who wants to go to a bar in the middle of the rainstorm of the century? _

"_Amalee! Stop dily-dalyin' around! Come wash the dishes!" Rovin, the bartender, called. Amalee decided against telling her boss to do it himself and left her post by the door to go back into the kitchen. She began to wash the dishes, happy to alleviate her boredom, even if it was only by doing menial tasks. _

_Some time later, the door opened, causing the little bell over the door to ring. Amalee heard Rovin greet the brave soul who had entered the bar as she finished drying up the dishes. _

"_Hellova storm out there, eh?" Rovin was saying to the stranger as Amalee walked out of the kitchen. The person was shrouded in a heavy black traveling cloak, his face hidden by a moleskin face mask. All Amalee could see of the man was his crystal-clear blue eyes and a few strands of white-blonde hair that stuck out from under his hood. _

"_Seems so," the stranger replied, nodding. Amalee noticed he didn't appear to be wet at all and though he spoke barely over a whisper, she could easily hear him. His voice was also airy, and almost childlike, but at the same time ringing out in the alto tone of a mature male. Rovin laughed heartily. _

"_So, where ya from stranger? Don't think I've seen the likes of ya around here before." _

"_I'm not really from anywhere," the outsider replied. "I just travel from place to place." _

"_I see," Rovin replied, nodding. "So what'll it be? You hungry or somethin' or are ya just lookin' for a break from the rain?" _

"_Something to drink would be nice," the stranger stated thoughtfully._

"_What'cha in the mood for, sir?" _

"_Would you happen to have some tea?" Rovin burst out laughing again. Who came into a _bar _looking for _tea_? Amalee, on the other hand, thought the request was strange. She stayed by the kitchen door, just observing._

"_I'm sorry, sir, but I think you've walked into the wrong place. We don't serve tea here, this is a bar." _

"_I see..." the outsider sighed. _

"_Excuse me," Amalee interrupted nervously, taking a step from the door. "Is...is green tea alright?" she whispered. Rovin squinted at her with a wary look in his eye. _

"_Amalee, we don't serve tea here," he barked. "We don't even have tea to serve." _

"_Um, but...Rovin...I...I have some tea I could serve him. I mean...just this once..." Amalee gulped. She really didn't like crossing Rovin. He was nice; he treated her right, but she didn't want to get on his bad side. "I'd hate to...send him out in the rain..." Rovin shrugged. _

"_Well? Green tea okay?" he asked the man. _

"_Yes, that will be fine. Thank you." Amalee nodded nervously (she was getting some pretty weird vibes from this guy) and disappeared up the steps in the back of the bar. She lived in a rented room above the bar, and that's where she kept her tea kettle, pot, and cups. She dug through her cabinets looking for the tea bags. She sighed, seeing that it was her last one. _

_Stacking everything on the old tea tray she had, Amalee slipped back downstairs and into the kitchen. She quickly put some water in the kettle and started it boiling before walking back into the main room. _

"_I hope you don't mind waiting..." she said to the stranger. He chuckled. _

"_I do not mind. It's not like I expected you to snap your fingers and have it ready," he laughed. Rovin smiled despite himself. He immediately picked up a conversation with the man, much to Amalee's relief. _

_The next fifteen minutes Amalee walked back and forth from the kitchen to the bar, adding her bits to the conversation but mainly wanting to stay away from the man. The unnatural feeling that stuck to the stranger worried Amalee. In her opinion, the kettle screeched all too early. _

"_Are you always this hospitable?" the stranger asked when Amalee brought out the tea tray with one tea cup, tea pot, and three individual little bowls with sugar, milk, and honey in them. Amalee shrugged but said nothing as she set down the tray. She was about to retreat back to the kitchen when the man spoke again. "Why is there only one cup?" _

"_You're the only one drinking tea," Amalee replied as gently as she could, though the seemingly innocent question annoyed her. _

"_Oh? Are you not having any?" the man questioned, titling his head slightly to the side as he turned to look at her. Amalee fidgeted under his gaze._

"_Um…" she didn't know what to say to that. "Well…I can't drink on the job." There, that seemed like a good enough answer._

"_It's a good thing I didn't order alcohol then, isn't it?" the man chuckled. "I don't think Mr. Rovin will mind, seeing as I'm the only one in here." He gestured around him, as if to emphasize the already known point of the bar's empty capacity. _

_Amalee was shocked. She'd been listening to the conversation the whole time and not once did Rovin introduce himself. And he didn't wear a nametag…so…how did the man know his name? Her nerves strung high, she looked to Rovin, hoping he'd refuse the man's offer, but the barkeep just shrugged. _

"_What do I care? Just don't be doin' anythin' funny, got it mister? She don't need any o' that shit, understand?" he said to the man, his voice stern and his eyes giving the man a stare that made normal men scream in fear._

"_Of course," the man didn't even flinch. "I wouldn't dream doing 'anythin funny.'" _

_Amalee sighed. She wasn't getting out of this one. She quietly excused herself to fetch the other cup from her room. When she returned she sat silently next to the man and busied herself with staring intently at the counter top. _

"_I won't bite, you know." Amalee did not reply. "Amalee?" Her head snapped up. _

"_How do you know my name?" she hissed. _

"_You are the talk around town, you know," the man replied, smiling gently. "A lot of people look up to you." _

"_Oh, I'm _sure_ of that…" Amalee muttered, glaring at the counter. _

"_I'm sorry, I meant no offense."_

"_Where do you come from, anyway?" Amalee questioned, changing the subject. _

"_Not from here," the man replied, laughing. Rovin chuckled as well. Amalee rolled her eyes while the man poured himself more tea. _

"_Do you work or just wander?" she asked._

"_I work at a library," he replied. "And I write."_

"_Write what?"_

"_History." _

"_You write about history?" _

"_No, I write history."_

"_What?" Amalee spun to look at the man, who just stared innocently back at her, "that makes no sense."_

"_It makes ever bit of sense, if you think about it." Amalee decided not to try and think about it. _

_Silence settled in, thick and heavy as fog. The man peacefully sipped his tea, eyes closed, while Amalee fidgeted uneasily on her stool. Finally, after an eternity had passed and reversed itself, the man set his cup down and stood up. _

"_Thank you kindly," he said, nodding towards the cup. "That was the best cup of tea I've had in a long while." _

"_Glad ya enjoy'd it," Rovin noted. _

"_How much?" _

"_Huh? Oh, um…three gil, I think…" Rovin scratched the back of his head, grinning. "Ain't too much, right?" _

"_No, not at all…" the man slipped a hand inside his cloak and pulled out a small black velvet drawstring pouch. "This should be enough, I believe." He handed the pouch to Rovin. _

"_Yea, sure seems like it. Let me get yer change, kay?" Rovin moved towards the register, expecting the man to wait. _

_Amalee suddenly felt a gust of wind breeze past her. She looked up and saw the man heading towards the door. _

"_Hey, don't you want your change?" she called. The man didn't stop walking._

"_No," he replied quietly, "please take whatever's left. I don't need it." He opened the door and walked out into the chaos outside. Amalee was about to say something when she heard the sound of metal hitting wood. She turned around to see Rovin staring at a large amount of gil laying on the counter. _

"_There's more than five thousand gil here…" he muttered. Amalee's eyes went wide and she grabbed a handful before running out onto the street, looking for the man. She was immediately assaulted by the torrent of wind and rain. She was so light that the wind just about blew her over, but she didn't care. _

"_He just left! How could he disappear so fast?!" Amalee cursed, searching the street. Then, in the darkness, she caught sight of (or thought she caught sight of) the man's silhouette in the distance. She dashed after the sight, calling out to him. "Hey! Come back!" The figure didn't turn around. She ran harder after him, struggling to keep her footing in the muddy street. Finally she made it to the edge of town._

_And no one was there. _

_Amalee spun around, shivering in the cold night air. She clenched the gil in her hands, dead set on giving it back. _

"_Where are you?!" she called, doubting her voice could be heard over the wind. _

"_What are you doing out here?" a voice-the man's voice- scolded from behind her. She spun again but saw no one. "You'll catch your death, in this weather without a coat." She felt a cloak fall over her shoulders, appearing almost out of thin air. She looked up and found herself staring straight into the man's eyes. _

_The clearest, lightest blue eyes she'd ever seen. So light that they seemed to glow a luminescent white. _

"_Wha…"_

"_Shh," the man said, holding one finger up to her lips. "You're safe now." He began to back up, still holding his finger to her lips. "Go home now, Amalee." He removed the finger and, to Amalee's shock, began to disappear. _

_Into thin air._

"_Wh…where are you going?!" she gasped._

"_Home," he said, bowing, and, with a gust of wind…_

_He was gone._

~*~*~*~

"And…that's it?" Zack said after Lei finished her story with a dramatic pause.

"Yup," Lei stated, grinning. "Ain't it awesome?!"

"Um…Not the word I would use to describe it…" Zack said, looking at Cloud. Cloud was staring intently at the floor, as if he was trying to burn a hole through it.

"I don't really see the point of the story, actually," Cloud muttered, refusing to look up. Lei stared at him.

"What's got you all confuzzled?"

"The point," Cloud repeated. "What was the point?" Lei frowned.

"Ya didn't see it? It was all about The Watcher's goodness, and, though people are skeptical, he always helps those in need," Lei explained gently. Now it was Cloud's turn to frown.

"You okay buddy?" Zack asked, looking from Cloud to Lei and back.

_It's not him_. Cloud told Zack. Lei was still expecting a reply from Cloud, oblivious to the two males' conversation.

_Uh?_

_This "Watcher" guy…he's not the nut in my head. I mean…He's _too_ nice. The guy in my head…he's just aloof and almost always sarcastic. Like he's toying with me…_Cloud explained.

_Oh_.

"Planet to Cloud!" Lei shouted, breaking the link between Zack and Cloud. Cloud look up at Lei.

"What'd I do?" he asked nervously.

"Nothin', I just don't like quiet," Lei smirked. Cloud and Zack smiled at each other. Then Cloud went back to looking at the floor, thinking once more.

"What'cha thinkin' about, Cloud?" Lei once again prohibited silence from settling in.

"Is there any way I could borrow your legends book, Lei?" Cloud asked, finally making eye contact with her. She flinched slightly, but smiled.

"Yeah, sure!" Lei picked up the heavy book that had been sitting docile in her lap and passed it to Cloud. "Just be careful, okay? My momma gave it to me, and her momma gave it to her and so on and so forth."

"I promise to be careful," Cloud swore.

"You don't need to worry about Spike here," Zack assured Lei. "You should see the condition of the books he reads. You'd think he bought them yesterday or something."

"I believe you," Lei agreed, laughing when she noticed Cloud had already started to read in the short time she and Zack had been talking. He was deep in concentration, and had already seemingly tuned out the world.

Zack was about to say something when Lei held up one finger to keep him silent. Then she reached over to her nightstand and picked up her drawing pad. Quietly, she flipped to a new page and began to sketch.

"What are you doing?" Cloud asked suddenly. Lei looked up and smiled.

"Drawin' you."

"Why?"

"Cause she can, Cloud. Leave her be, man," Zack scolded.

"Nah, it's a valid question, Zai-chan. You see, Cloud, before Seto let me and Iah leave the Canyon, he gave me a challenge. He told me to use my skills in art and sculpture to search the Planet for perfection. And, when I found it, I was (am) supposed to draw and then make a sculpture of that thing. Person, place, object, or idea."

"So…why are you drawing me?" Cloud questioned.

"I'm drawing perfection, dummy!" Lei stated, as if it was obvious.

"I still don't get it."

"I get it," Zack said, waving his hand in the air. (Teacher, Teacher! I understand!)

"I'm drawing you, Cloud, because I think you, Cloud, are the personification of perfection that Seto sent me out to find," Lei said gently. Cloud laughed bitterly.

"Right. Should I go get Sephiroth now? Are you done joking around?"

"I'm not joking, Cloud. I'm being seri…did you just say Sephiroth?" Lei countered, but then she cut herself short, looking awestruck.

"Yes," Cloud retorted, waiting for the predictable words that always came from people when he spoke of the General. He crossed his arms and couldn't help but look smug, no matter how much it hurt his heart.

"I said _perfection_, Cloud. Not _corruption_." Cloud dropped his arms and stared at her. Then he began to laugh.

"Not funny," he said, despite the fact he was still laughing. "I think...you've got your adjectives messed up."

"No I do not!" Lei stated, jumping to her feet. "Look, Nii-san, I know you don't believe me. But trust me on this one. I know the difference between good and bad, perfection and corruption. And you, my doubtful brother, well...I don't think you do."

"Are you questioning my morality?" Cloud asked, clutching Lei's book close to him, covering his heart as if it were a shield.

"No, I just believe you need to be guided to the right answer, because obviously someone led you away from it."

"I don't understand..."

"If you think Sephiroth is the ideal of perfection, Cloud, then somewhere in your life, you lost sight of what is good and clouded it with what is not."

"Lei, you can't just judge Cloud 'cause he thinks Sephy-san is perfect," Zack interrupted. "Lots of people do."

"That's not the point, Za-chan. Cloud is not _lots of people_. Cloud is Cloud, and no one else. He's not like me and you, who conform to everyone's view of life and the proper ways of society. No, Cloud is Cloud, and he's perfect." Lei sat down and smiled, as if she had just won the argument. Cloud stared at her. He'd stopped laughing minutes ago, and now he just sat there, looking down at the book that was his shield against her verbal assault.

"So, Cloud," Lei added, "The _Great_ Sephiroth stands no chance against you because he...is standing in the doorway right now. Hail the General!" She jumped to her feet once more and gave Sephiroth a mock salute. Sephiroth stared at Lei with a look that showed part amusement, part annoyance.

"Hello Lei Tien, Zack, Cloud. I wondered where you all were hiding," Sephiroth stated, entering the room and looking around with mild interest.

"We're not hiding. We're discussing legends and folklore and keeping ourselves out of trouble," Lei defended.

_He's going to kill me_...Cloud's head shot up and he stared at Lei, ignoring Sephiroth for the moment. He noticed then that her voice had started shaking.

"We could have used your help, Lei Tien. You too, Zack," Sephiroth said coolly, eyeing the room's occupants now.

_Has he ever killed people 'cause they've talked bad about him? Didn't Lindon and Austin..._

"For just a food fight? The Great Commander can't stop a food fight?" Zack taunted.

"It spiraled to a close full out riot, Zack."

_I need to get out of here._

"Started by...?"

"Dyoxisis, SOLDIER 1st Class. She...was looking for Cloud."

_I don't trust this man anymore. _

Cloud wasn't even aware that Sephiroth and Zack were talking about him. He was too focused on Lei's panicked thoughts.

_Is there anywhere to run?_

"Damn Dyoxisis. Why is she always trying to ruin things?!"

_Is anywhere that's safe?_

Cloud shifted slightly on the bed, suddenly ready to fight.

_Will Iah be alright? _

"Cloud, what are you doing?" Cloud's head jerked up and stared at Sephiroth. He forced a smile.

"Yes sir?"

"What are you doing?" Sephiroth repeated.

"Nothin'..." Cloud lied. He shifted his weight again.

"Really now?" Sephiroth crossed the room in two steps and tipped Cloud's chin up so that he could stare into his eyes.

"Don't touch me!" Cloud hissed suddenly, jerking his head away from Sephiroth's hand. The General pulled his hand back as if Cloud had bit him.

"Cloud?" Zack asked. "You alright?" Cloud said nothing.

"Strife, answer the question!" Sephiroth ordered.

"You don't control me," Cloud hissed again. He jumped to his feet and headed towards the door.

"Where are you going?" Sephiroth interrogated.

"Don't you dare hurt Lei!" Cloud shouted, running out of the room and down the hall.

"Cloud!" Zack shouted, jumping to his feet as well.

"Sephiroth, your hand....you're...bleeding..." Lei whispered. Zack stopped dead and turned around to stare at Sephiroth along with Lei. Sephiroth raised his left hand-the hand he'd held Cloud's chin with-to his eyes.

Crimson blood dripped down from his palm.

* * *

**A/N: So...that's it...for now. I mean, I'm already typing up the next chapter, but...well...you know how I am with posting. **

**Questions? Comments? Concerns? Flames? All are welcome, but flames will be responded with in l33t. ^-^ Reviews are really appreciated. Thank you to all the new and old readers. You guys are my life. -heart-**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Hey, it didn't take six months!**

**Okay, I'm pushing it with this chapter. I know, not much happens, but I need a bridge somewhere. I also did not send this to my beta. Not yet, at least. So I probably will be coming back and changing things. **

**Also, wierd things happen here. Promise. But this says AU for a reason. So I'm at the liberty to be wierd.**

**Same Disclamers as always.**

**THANK YOU TO BRAVE NEW READERS, BRAVE OLD READERS, AND EVERYONE ELSE!**

* * *

To Grow Wings 

"Congrats, Cloud. You just made the second stupidest move this week!" Cloud muttered, storming through the halls with his head down and helmet on. If his plan was to blend into the wall and not be seen by anyone, it was working. He was officially being left alone to vent his newfound anger.

Where did it come from anyway?

One moment, he had been fine, but he'd literally felt something snap inside his brain the minute Sephiroth had touched him. He'd seen red for a moment before bolting out the door. Even the words he'd spoken had seemed like a foreign language, though he'd verbalized it in his own native tongue.

So, on top of the nightmares of the weird cloaked man, he was now snapping at being touched and becoming increasingly paranoid. Oh, and he was prone to attack anyone and anything for stupid reasons.

Great. He really _was_ crazy.

Cloud sighed to himself and looked around. He'd successfully gotten himself lost in a remote part of the building, for he was no longer surrounded by other SOLDIERS…or anyone, in fact. He was completely alone.

This was good.

Cloud took a deep breath and slumped against a nearby wall. He closed his eyes in a desperate attempt to concentrate on…anything. His mind was such a train wreck right now. He forced his breathing to slow and to calm down. Slowly, darkness began to over come his thoughts…

_Dark room…white swirling mist…ever consistent ticking of clocks…white chalk…_

"_You have returned."_

Cloud jolted awake and bit his tongue to keep from screaming out. He'd only been asleep for less than four minutes and the dream had assaulted him. Cloud had to face it now. He wasn't even safe in his own mind. He lifted his hand to look at it, trying to remember the feeling that had washed over him the minute the General had entered the room.

"It felt like I was suffocating," he finally muttered, still examining his hand. "So…how did I…do…whatever it was I did? I wasn't armed, was I? I left my dagger in the room when Zack drug me out of there, and I'm too low rank to be allowed to carry a gun full time." Cloud held his head in his hands. "This isn't making any sense! Why me? Couldn't I just be left alone? All I wanted was to be normal!"

He lapsed into silence, just sitting there. He started to doze off again when a jingling noise woke him up.

"Cloud? What…are you alright?" Before Cloud could respond the female voice that had just questioned him, he felt a cool hand on his forehead. "You're not running a fever are you? God, you're freezing! Do you need to go to the infirmary? Please don't be dead…"

Cloud lifted his head to look at the woman now kneeling in front of him. For a moment, he had no idea who it was. Black hair with bright red and purple highlights that was way too long to meet SOLIDER protocol, inquisitive grey eyes staring right at him, and clothes and accessories that screamed Gothic Lolita was the sight that greeted him.

"Vinia?" Cloud asked, incredulous. "Is that…you?"

Vinia was the co-captain of his Soldier unit, sharing the post with Colby. She was really quiet around people she didn't know and often had trouble keeping the unit in line if Colby was sick. Most of the time, she'd put him in charge, which made her more comfortable (but made him less).

When she was around her friends, though, she often talked amiably. Just like Lei, she seemed to fear silence and had no problem filling it up with chatter.

And, after Cloud refused to be her boyfriend (he'd gone through the whole embarrassing story about you-know-who), she'd decided to help him out by making him more comfortable around women.

Cloud didn't think it was working.

Vinia looked at him for a moment before grinning and bear-hug-tackling him. "You're alright! Oh, thank heavens you're alright!" she said, burying her head into his chest. "I heard what you did to the General and everyone was looking for you and I was so sure I'd be the one to find you but you'd be dead because the General would have impaled you onto the wall with Masamune!"

"Vinia…I…can't…breathe…" Cloud choked, struggling to get out of Vinia's grip (love hurts, everyone!).

"Oh, sorry…" she blushed, letting go and backing up. Cloud stood up and looked over Vinia. Right now, the co-captain really didn't look too menacing.

"Um, Vinia…what are you wearing?" Cloud asked, looking at her. He now figured out where the jingling was coming from. Around Vinia's neck hung a jingle bell.

"Huh? Oh, this is my civilian clothes…" Vinia explained, spinning once. "Do ya like?" Cloud stared at her. "Right…you're wondering why I'm wearing civilian clothes…"

"Actually," Cloud said, smiling slightly, "I'm wondering where it was that you lived that classified what your wearing as 'civilian clothes.'"

"It's Lolita, Cloud," she replied, putting her hands on her hips. "It's a street fashion. You wouldn't understand…although, I bet you'd look good in Aristocrat, really." Cloud laughed quietly. "And, to answer your other unasked question, my uniform had stains all over it from when Dioxa-bitch threw me into a trashcan…so Commander Iah made her clean it and I'm stuck in my normal clothes for the rest of the day…"

"Are you okay? I mean, you're so light that I bet they threw you pretty far, right?" Cloud asked, sounding worried. Vinia blushed.

"No no no, don't worry about me, Cloud," she said, shaking her head. "I'm fine, see? Totally good. And Colby's fine too, so don't you worry about him, okay? We're good. All good…"

"Vinia, how come you always get flustered when someone worries about you?" Cloud asked. Vinia shut her mouth and stared at him for a moment.

"I do not," she finally countered. Then she changed the subject. "So, do you know how worried everyone is about you? Why are you hiding here anyway?" Cloud sighed and slumped back against the wall. "Oh no, you're not…thinking…about…well…um…you know…"

"No, I'm not thinking about killing myself again, Vinia," Cloud muttered. "Seeing as I was too stupid to even follow through."

"Cloud!"

"S'kay, really. I know I was stupid." He sat on the floor again. This time, though, Vinia sat down next to him.

"Wanna talk?" she asked.

"Do I ever?"

"Humor me, Strife." Cloud sighed and looked over at Vinia before staring at the ground between his feet. "Do you want me to start this conversation with a question?" he nodded. "Why'd you jump?"

"Cause I wanted to die," Cloud replied simply. He didn't look up to see her reaction, but he didn't need to. He could already tell what she was going to say. He even knew, right then, that she was holding back tears.

"_Here she cries, over your broken soul."_

Cloud looked up but then shook his head. He was making up voices again.

"Why'd you want to die?" she asked, voice lower, closer to a whisper.

"I just…" he sighed. "I don't know…" Vinia rested her head on his shoulder. "Vinia, how did you learn about…that…?"

"Colby told me…after all the rumors sprang up, I feared the worst. So I went and beat the answer outa him…" Cloud laughed weakly. "You wanna know something, Strife? He told me somethin' about you that I bet only a few people know." Cloud looked at her nervously. "He told me Sephiroth didn't save you. That the General didn't throw himself off the roof after ya. That Sephiroth really isn't the hero this time." Cloud said nothing. "Is it true?"

Cloud didn't know what to say. He knew he should tell her the lie, convince her that he would never be able to save anyone, not even himself. But he couldn't. No words to feed the lie would come. He was filled with determination now.

"Cloud?" Vinia shook his shoulder gently. "Hey, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you think about…"

"It's a lie," Cloud whispered. Vinia looked at him.

"What?"

"The story…it's a lie. Colby told you the truth. Everyone else…they all lied…"

"Then…how did you… So the other part…it's true as well?" she sounded excited now.

"The…other part?"

"You can fly?" Vinia asked, her eyes alight. Cloud's determination disappeared and was quickly replaced with dread. Now Vinia was going to think he was a freak.

"You can fly!" Vinia exclaimed, jumping up. "I knew it, from the moment you got here, I knew it!"

"You knew I could fly?" Cloud muttered. "You could have told me."

"No, I knew you were different, that you would be something awesome. So, can I see it?"

"What? Uh…" Cloud blushed. Stupid wing, he knew it would just disappear from his life. That'd be too…convenient.

"Is it that embarrassing? I bet it's totally cool and you don't want to show me," Vinia pouted, crossing her arms and sulking.

"No, it's not cool. It's stupid and annoying and makes me look even more like a freak than I did before!" Cloud fumed. Vinia frowned at his words but then her eyes went wide and her mouth dropped open. She just stared at Cloud.

"I mean, this sucks, Vinia! I just wanted to be normal and maybe do something that would make me seem better than the nobody I am, but this is just too much. I really wish I could have just died instead of that stupid thing catching me. I didn't want this…" Cloud ranted.

"Um…Cloud…

"What?" Cloud stopped his rant and looked at Vinia. She looked shorter than she was a minute ago.

"I'm glad you're confiding in me and all, but could you at least do it standing on the ground?" Vinia pointed to the area behind Cloud's back. He looked behind him and groaned.

The wing was back.

Then he looked down.

"How'd I get up here?!" he asked. He was sitting in an alcove above Vinia now, on the near the second story balcony that looked over the room he had been sitting in.

"Dunno. One minute you were talking to me and then I asked if I could see it and you said no and I pouted and when I opened my eyes, you were up there," Vinia answered. "And I think your wing is cool, Cloud!"

"Don't yell that!" Cloud retorted, sinking back into the shadows of the alcove.

"Oh, don't hide, Cloud! I still love you! Really. I think you look even cuter now! Please come out?" Vinia shouted, jumping up and down as if to get his attention. Cloud just turned away and ignored her. "Do I have to get Zack? I will! You know I will! Cloud, don't ignore me! At least tell me why you're more depressed than usual!"

Cloud said nothing for a moment.

"Cloud?" Vinia whispered, clasping her hands behind her back and looking up at him with puppy dog eyes. "Do you want me to leave?" Finally she was rewarded with a weak reply.

"No…" he muttered. Carefully he crept out of the shadows and looked over the ledge at her. The wing rustled and folded itself against his back. He jumped down next to Vinia.

"Wanna scream?" Vinia asked, slinging her arm around Cloud's neck. Cloud looked at her, a half smile on his lips.

"I never scream, Vinia."

"Maybe just this once. It might help," she suggested, laying her head on his shoulder. Cloud just shook his head.

"Sorry."

"Don't apologize. It's just not your thing," Vinia said wisely. Cloud made a move to sit down again, and Vinia let go to sit next to him.

"I just don't know what to do anymore," he muttered. "Weird things are happening, I'm having nightmares that seem real, and I think I'm going crazy."

"Can I come? Sanity is over-rated," she asked, smiling at him. Cloud laughed slightly. "Do that again!"

"Huh?" Cloud asked, looking embarrassed.

"Laugh. You have cute laugh, Cloud! You should laugh more often. Specially 'cause it's sexy and all the girls will totally dig it….on second thought, you're only allowed to laugh around me, gots it?" Vinia said, jumping up and pointing at Cloud with a stern look. "I'm the only one who gets to hear your sexy laugh, got it?"

Cloud blushed, unsure of what to say.

"Whoa, did we walk in at the wrong moment?" Zack said, coming (literally) out of nowhere. Lei Tien was right behind him. When she heard what Vinia said, she ran out from behind Zack and grabbed Cloud's arm.

"No fair! I wanna hear it too!" she complained, scowling at Vinia.

"Nu-uh! Cloud's only gonna laugh for me!" Vinia stated, grabbing Cloud's other arm. The two girls glared at each other and began to argue.

"Can't we all just be friends?" Zack asked weakly, scratching the back of his head. Both girls looked at him and then back at Cloud, who was stuck in the middle of the maelstrom.

"Sorry," they said in unison, letting Cloud's arms go.

"So, why are you here anyway?" Vinia asked, crossing her arms. Before anyone could answer, Cloud yelped and leapt back to his alcove hiding spot.

"What the…" Lei asked, starting to look for him.

_Don't! _

Lei jolted and looked to Zack and Vinia. They nodded; they'd heard it too.

_Don't let him find me_…

"Him…?" Zack muttered. But no answer was needed, because said "him" walked into the open room.

"My, what a quaint little gathering. I thought we were looking for Cloud, not just standing around," Sephiroth said coolly as he glided up to the group. Zack and the girls exchanged a look. "What?"

"N-nothing sir!" Vinia said, saluting promptly. She was a Grunt, after all. Lei and Zack rolled their eyes, for they thought the SOLDIER hierarchy was a load of bullshit.

"At ease, Soldier," Sephiroth muttered. To the rest of them: "Any luck?"

"Not that we'd tell you," Zack sighed. Sephiroth just looked at him.

"Why not, Zack?"

"Because, Sephy-san, you're still pissed. I don't want Cloud dead just 'cause you've got anger management issues, okay?" Zack said. "To put it bluntly."

"Who said any of this was Cloud's fault? I am not angry," Sephiroth replied calmly.

"I doubt that," Vinia muttered.

"Why do you doubt me?"

"Because she's right!" Cloud yelled from his hiding spot. The four looked up to see Cloud standing on the very edge on the overhang, glaring down at Sephiroth. His wing flared out from his back, sharing in his anger. "You're still angry. Not just at me, but at Lei too. And you shouldn't even be angry with her!"

Lei cast a worried glance at Sephiroth and backed away. Zack stepped between them, never once taking his eyes off Cloud. Vinia stood shock still in place.

"What are you talking about?" Sephiroth hissed. "Get down from there!"

"I won't let you kill Lei!" Cloud yelled, his old anger returning. Maybe what Lei had said before was right. Maybe Sephiroth was corrupt. Maybe that's why he was so angry with Sephiroth right now. Maybe he no longer wanted to believe in a corrupt hero.

Or maybe he just desperately needed sleep.

"Cloud, I'm not going to kill anyone," Sephiroth stated. Cloud glared at him, making direct eye contact from his lofty perch. "Come down here."

Silence.

"Cloud, stop acting childish."

More silence. Cloud refused to move, and to break eye contact. Neither he nor Sephiroth blinked.

"Cloud…"

"GET OUT OF MY HEAD!" Cloud screamed, cutting Sephiroth off. He fell to his knees, holding his head. No one could see it, but his eyes began to flicker from their normal cerulean to green and back again.

"What are you doing to him?!" Vinia gasped, mortified that she'd forgotten her SOLDIER commissioned dagger in her room. A certain silver-haired nightmare deserved to be stabbed right now.

Zack didn't say anything as he began to search for a way to get up the wall to his friend. He didn't even care that there was about ten to fifteen feet of perfectly smooth stone separating them.

"Stop it, Commander!" Lei screamed, grabbing Sephiroth and trying to pull him away from Cloud. Sephiroth just pulled his arm away from her, knocking Lei back onto the ground.

"Come down here!" Sephiroth commanded.

"No!" Cloud screamed, holding his head. "No! No! NO!"

"Leave him alone!" Vinia called, trying to do what Lei did and break Sephiroth's concentration. She charged the General, only to find herself frozen in space by a Stop spell. Lei was held to the ground by Gravity.

"Cut it out, Sephy!" Zack ordered. He walked up and stood before Sephiroth, successfully blocking Cloud from his view. Sephiroth glared at him.

"Move," he hissed. Zack refused to and would have kept being defiant had he not heard a sickening scream from Lei.

The next thing anyone knew, Cloud was on the ground behind the two 1st class SOLDIERs, lying in a pool of blood.

* * *

_Cloud opened his eyes carefully. His head throbbed, as if someone was trying to cut it open to peer at his brain and trying to do so with a rusty, dull blade. He sat up and coughed out blood._

"_Wha…?" he muttered, looking at his now-bloody hand. He looked up to ask Zack what was going on._

_Only Zack wasn't there._

_No one was._

_He was in the room of mist again. And, lo and behold, the cloaked figure sat in the chair, staring at him._

"_Why am I bleeding?" Cloud asked, trying to stand and finding himself to be in considerable pain. He didn't expect an answer. So when he found himself staring at a black gloved hand, he was surprised. He shivered. When had the guy moved?_

"_Can you…stand?" the man whispered, his voice echoing over the clocks. He kept his hand extended, in case Cloud needed it. Cloud didn't move to stand but looked up instead. _

_The Cloaked Man was standing directly over him now. But the hood had fallen slightly askew, leaving part of the man's face uncovered. Cloud could see one bright blue eye and a worried frown directed toward him. And he looked surprisingly young, looking no older than Cloud himself, or maybe just a few years older. Cloud stared at the eye, watching as different patters appeared in the iris and connected with the pupil. First a spiral, then a sunburst, then…_

"_Uh…" Cloud remembered it was impolite to stare, even in a dream such as this. He took the man's hand, begrudgingly, and forced himself to stand. The man steadied him when he began to fall back. "What…happened?" _

"_You fell…the Calamity… pushed you," the man answered. After he was sure Cloud wasn't going to fall, he let go and crossed back to the table. He began to make tea. Cloud watched him in amazement as he made water _appear_ in the kettle and fire appear under it. The water boiled instantly and the man put the water in the pot, adding different colors of finely grained powder to the pot and mixing it with a wave of his hand. He poured one glass and walked back to Cloud._

"_Drink," the man suggested, handing the cup to Cloud. _

"_This will help?" Cloud asked doubtfully. He felt dizzy…from loss of blood? One look at his feet confirmed it. The usually white chalk was caked in dark black splotches. Dried blood._

_The man nodded and began to cross back to his chair while Cloud stared at the cup. Would the man try to poison him? It didn't look like it mattered now, as he was going to die from blood loss anyway. Cloud drank the tea. _

"_It's…good…" Cloud said, amazed. He'd only drunk tea a few times before, when he and his mom had run low on money. That stuff never did taste good. _

_The man chuckled as he sat down. Cloud noticed he instantly felt better. Whether it was the tea or because the man was no longer close to him, he couldn't be sure. _

_Cloud also noticed something else._

"_What are you doing with Lei Tien's book?" he asked. The man looked up at Cloud again. In his lap now rested Lei's book, or something identical to it. The man said nothing. He just looked at the book._

"_What, didn't you know you had that?" Cloud retorted, crossing his arms. The man shook his head and gestured all around himself. Cloud looked around and dropped his arms. "Oh…right…this _is_ a library…You probably don't even know who Lei Tien is." _

_The man said and did nothing._

"_Okay…Well…I'm leaving now…" Cloud said. That worked the last time. Unfortunately, it didn't work this time. The dream didn't fade. The man looked at him, tilting his head to the side as if confused. "Which way's out?" Cloud asked. The man pointed into the mist behind Cloud. "Great…" Cloud muttered, beginning to move._

"_Wait." Cloud stopped, shocked the man had spoken again. "Choose." Cloud groaned as he turned back around to face the man. Sure enough, the three balls of mist were back._

"_I've already told you, I DON'T SEE ANYTHING!" Cloud exclaimed. His head throbbed slightly when he raised his voice. The man just gestured to the mist again, looking down at the book. Cloud snorted. "I'm not choosing what I can't see. To hell with what Zack says…" The man's head shot up for a moment, as if he was shocked. Then he went back to reading, muttering something under his breath. Cloud struggled to hear it, but all it sounded like to him was gibberish._

_So they sat there, with Cloud staring as hard as he could into the mist, trying to see something, and with the man reading his book and muttering to himself. _

_Finally, something happened. A knocking sound rang out of nowhere. Upon hearing the noise the man made an annoyed sound and looked up at Cloud._

"_What?" Cloud asked. "I didn't do it!" The man shook his head. "Oh…do you want me…to…What do you want me to do?" The man gestured off into the mist. "Do you want me to answer that?" The man shook his head again. Cloud began to think he was getting aggravated._

"_Enter," he commanded, leaving Cloud standing there. Cloud turned around towards the direction he thought the noise came form. He was rewarded with light entering the room, as if a door was opened. _

_Out of the mist trotted a panther. Cloud stared at it. And, if that wasn't shocking enough, the panther's hair wasn't black but blonde. And the thing was wearing glasses covering blue eyes. _

_The panther stared back at Cloud. _

"_Is…are you…that's a panther," Cloud said, staring at it. _

"_Yes I am. And you're a man," The panther replied. _

"_Uh…" Cloud instantly started pinching himself. Talking panthers? That's just ridiculous! _

_The pinch hurt. _

_The panther sauntered over to the Cloaked Man._

"_Who's the man?" he asked politely. "A friend?" _

"_Apprentice," the Cloaked Man answered calmly. _

"_I see. So he's the one I'm here to retrieve." The glasses-wearing animal came back over to Cloud. "Cloud Strife, I presume?" _

_Cloud stared from the man to the panther. What was he supposed to say now? A panther was talking to him, and knew his name. The man was friends with the panther, apparently. And the man just called Cloud his _apprentice_. What in the world…_

"_Quiet a talker, aren't you?" the panther joked. Cloud looked down at him. "Come on, time to wake up." _

"_I'm already awake," Cloud argued._

"_Now now, I know this is all confusing, but you just have to focus. Wake up now. You can't just expect him to teach you everything, now can you?" The panther prompted. "You can do it. Just wake up." _

"_But…I still don't know what's going on," Cloud confessed. "I can't see the objects he wants me to pick from!"_

"_Well of course you can't!" the animal laughed. "You're too happy!" _

"_What?!" Cloud asked, confused. He certainly didn't feel happy._

"_Wake up, Cloud. It'll all make sense later. Wake up now, boy. Wake up…" _**A/N Wooo....cliffhanger...well, sorta. **

* * *

**Anyway**

**Questions? Comments? Concerns? Flames? All are welcome, I guess. Especially questions. If there is something you don't understand, let me know! I'll try to explain it to you! Promise!**

**Oh, and to people who've played Crisis Core, I need the lowdown on Lazzard. I plan to use him in this Fic, and don't want to screw him up too much. I know a little, but any additional info would be great!**

**Till the next...**


	5. Chapter 5

****

A/N Hi! How's the last...one...two...three...FOUR months been (I know, I fail. T_T)

**Anyway, hope you enjoy. It's a bit short, and yes, I do introduce a new character, but don't worry about her too much. She's only going to be in the next few chapters, and then she'll be gone again. **

**Warning: MINOR CRISIS CORE SPOILERS - nothing major, but still, I'm telling you! Don't get angry!**

**P.S. City of Dis, when you read Colby's comment about Lazard, think about the review you gave me back in Feb. **

* * *

To Grow Wings

Chapter Five

"Wake up, please. Oh please wake up….I think they're going to kill Sephiroth if you don't wake up…Maybe that's not such a bad thing…or I'm pretty sure they all think I'm dead anyway…never mind…Just wake up, now. Please…"

Huh? If he was back in the real world, why was the panther still talking to him?

Cloud winced at the sudden sound and blinked, slowly forcing his eyes opened. Everything on his body hurt…but that was a good thing…at least that meant he was still breathing…

Slowly, the room came into focus. Cloud recognized it to be the infirmary. Sitting beside him, however, was someone he didn't recognize.

The man sat, with his white- gloved hands clasped as if in prayer, by Cloud's bedside. His blue eyes sent a piercing gaze towards Cloud behind a pair of blue rimed glasses. A blue suit coat over a white dress shirt and blue tie, complete with pristine white pants, gave Cloud the impression that this man was important. Or maybe it was the fact that the man had a sticking similarity to Rufus Shinra…

Well, at least it wasn't the panther…Some of his sanity was left, it seemed.

"Who…are you?" Cloud asked, attempting to sit up. The man moved forward and stopped Cloud's movement.

"I…wouldn't do that if I were you. You've lost a lot of blood…" the man replied, as if that was the answer to Cloud's question. "Just lay back down. Now that you're awake again, don't go falling asleep. You could slip into a coma…"

"You didn't answer my question," Cloud said flatly.

"No kidding?" the man sighed, pushing some of his blonde hair out of his eyes. "No time for that, really. My name isn't that important, when it comes done to it." Cloud frowned. He wasn't stupid, and could recognize avoidance when it was used. Hell, he was normally the master of the same technique.

He didn't get another chance, however, to ask. He could hear the voices of his friends ringing down the hallway. Holding up one finger in a "shh-ing" motion, the unnamed man slid out of the room right as Zack, Lei Tien, Vinia, Colby, and Jericho walked in.

"CLOUD!" Vinia screeched, lunging forward followed by an equally-as-enthusiastic Lei. "You're awake!" Cloud was unable to speak as the two girls began hugging him, successfully cutting of his much-needed air supply.

"Girls! Don't suffocate him!" Jericho said, trying to pry the two girls off. "He just woke up from a traumatic experience. Don't send him back into coma!" The two girls let go. Reluctantly. Jericho grumbled to himself as he got busy checking Cloud's vitals and otherwise being all doctor-like.

Zack chuckled as Vinia stomped over to Colby and pouted. Lei just sat on the edge of the bed, looking expectantly at Cloud. Except Cloud wasn't sure what she was expecting.

"Um…" he began to get uncomfortable, as everyone (except Jericho) started at him. "Why are you all staring at me?" Was the wing back? Cloud panicked but casually looked behind himself. Nope. He was wingless. So why…?

"Sleep okay?" Vinia asked suddenly, from her roost next to Colby. Cloud frowned. Where'd that come from? He didn't answer…really; he was unsure _how _to answer.

"Have any weird dreams while you were sleeping?" Lei prodded. Cloud instantly frowned. His friends were not naturally this perspective. He glared at Zack, who held up his hands in surrender.

"Don't look at me." If it was possible, Cloud's glare intensified. "Really man. They figured it out on their own."

"Figured what out?" Jericho finally was back in reality.

"Cloud's been having nightmares and he didn't tell me!" Lei said, looking sad. "He told Zack first." Cloud felt his frown loosen a bit. So…they basically knew nothing.

"Sorry Lei," Cloud muttered. "I guess I didn't think it was a big deal."

"Of course it's a big deal!" Vinia was back at his side again, giving him a reassuring hug. "You need your sleep to grow big and strong." Lei nodded for a moment, and before her expression changed to that of being deep in thought.

Cloud blushed. Vinia and Lei reminded him of his mother. Caring to a fault.

"Vinia, Cloud's strong enough," Lei protested. "He's the strongest!"

They also reminded him of little kids.

"I still have a long way to go," Cloud replied.

"And he's modest," Jericho added, as he moved to take Cloud's temperature.

"Can we help in anyway?" Lei asked, poking Jericho.

"Yes, actually. Why don't you all go and make sure Cloud's room is all cleaned up," Jericho replied calmly. "That way he can go right to sleep when he's finished up here." Lei nodded enthusiastically and grabbed Colby and Vinia.

"Let's go, guys!" she shouted, dragging them from the room, ignoring their horrified protests about their obvious dislike for cleaning.

"Way to go, Jericho…" Zack said, sitting next to Cloud. "You emptied the room by preying on Lei's obvious need to be the most annoying 'older sister' Cloud could ever want."

"That was the point, actually," Jericho muttered. "Some peace and quiet would be nice around here." Zack snickered but the laughter died when Cloud turned to him, face grave.

"Did you see someone walking down the hall when you came in here?" he asked, thinking back to the blonde-man who'd left seconds before his friends had arrived. Zack and Jericho exchanged a confused glance.

"Uh, nope. No one was there but us…" Zack said, scratching the back of his head. Jericho crossed to the door and checked the hallway, as if he were expecting something to jump out and scare all of them.

"Did you see someone, Cloud?" Jericho asked, still looking out into the hallway.

"Yeah," Cloud said, frowning. "He was here, but left right before you came in…He wouldn't tell me his name…" Cloud was beginning to feel paranoia creeping up his spine. Something wasn't right here.

"I know! We can check the surveillance cameras, right? That'll tell us who this guy was!" Zack announced triumphantly. Jericho nodded too, a strange half-smile plaguing his face. Never taking his eye off Cloud, the older man sat at the computer and began to access the security footage from the Infirmary. Zack patted his friends head like a master would a puppy and walked to stand next to Jericho.

"Here we are," Jericho finally said, focusing fully on the screen now. "Let me re-wind and we'll see who you were talking about, Cloud."

Cloud didn't answer, but neither man was too surprised. Since he was taciturn by nature, they just assumed that Cloud was lost in thought again.

SOLDIER and Medic watched as the images of Cloud's friends walked backwards out of the room at high speed before Jericho paused the image and frowned. The still frame showed Cloud, lying on the bed in the Infirmary.

Alone.

"That's funny…" Zack said. "Cloud said someone was here by now…" He reached over Jericho and pushed the "ENTER" key to un-pause the frame.

And proceeded to watch and listen to Cloud having a one-sided conversation with himself.

"Uh-huh…" Jericho said, casting a sideways glance to a very startled Zack. "Cloud, who were you talking to? There's no one there." Silence. The men watched the screen for a few more moments, long enough to see Cloud reach towards the door- as if he were trying to stop someone- and then lay back as Zack and the others entered to room. "Cloud…what's going on?"

Zack turned around at Jericho's second question and yelped.

Cloud was gone.

* * *

He walked quickly down the hallway, keeping his gaze on the floor as he skittered away from the Infirmary.

He couldn't explain what was happening.

But he was pretty sure he was going mad.

Cloud resisted the urge to punch the wall. He was fed up with the smoke and mirrors, and he was no longer going to just stand idle and want for this all to pass.

He knew who was behind the madness.

His feet led him to one of the training rooms, where mirrors were set up all around, as to enable the SOLDIERs and Grunts to observe their technique while they trained. He stopped in the center of the room and glared into the mirror straight ahead of him.

As he expected, it wasn't his reflection that stared back. In fact, he dully noted, he had no reflection in any of the mirrors.

The cloaked man who haunted his dreams and the blonde man-who Cloud realized was the human form of the panther- stared back at him from two separate mirrors. Cloud glared at both of them.

"Is this what you wanted?" he hissed. "Drive me mad so they lock me up and throw away the key?" Both men tried to speak but Cloud wouldn't let them. "I don't know what you want. I never have! You!" He screamed, staring at the cloaked man. "You are driving me insane! I can't sleep without you showing up, giving me impossible riddles and forcing me to choose something that I know nothing about!"

_You don't understand…_

"Why don't you explain for once?" Cloud yelled.

The man pressed his hands up against the mirror, a seemingly pained gesture. But Cloud was far past the point of caring.

_I…I can't…_

"See! Stupid excuses! Find someone else to screw around with!" Cloud retorted. "Leave me alone!"

_The world needs you, Cloud!_

"Why do I care what the world wants?" Cloud screamed back. "Let everything burn! See what I care!"

That seemed to be the last straw. The cloaked man's hands slipped from the mirror as he seemed to accept defeat.

_I though…you wished to be a savior._ It sounded like the man may have been crying.

"I've given up on such an unattainable dream!"

"Unattainable dreams are the best kind," the panther-man interjected. "Right, Zack?"

Cloud turned to the door and in the next instant was standing in a pile of glass. He saw Zack running towards him, hand outstretched, horror and fear on his older friend's face. The world faded into darkness, taking Cloud with it.

* * *

They didn't talk about it anymore. The suicide attempt, the falling, the dreams, the mirrors. None of it. It had all faded into a distant memory, even though it had all happened less than a month previous.

The story was simple. Cloud had been training in the room of mirrors when one SOLDIER had challenged him to a fight. Cloud had defended himself, emerging the victor, but the mirrors had been damaged in the process.

It explained the cuts, the broken mirrors, the screaming.

No one but Zack and Jericho knew that the only SOLDIER Cloud had been fighting was himself.

Only Cloud knew that there was someone else there.

But really, it faded away. His friends stopped walking on eggshells around him. His friendship (if you could call it that) with Sephiroth was repaired. Things returned to normal, though, questions still remained unanswered.

The cloaked man had not come back. Not that Cloud missed him, or the dreams, or the insanity-causing-insomnia. It was just strange. His disappearance-along with that of the panther- was disconcerting.

But, after a time, even his haunting last words faded into the crevices of Cloud consciousness.

He had become complacent. Fate always had a remedy to that.

* * *

"'Unattainable dreams are the best kind.'"

"What was that, Cloud?" Zack looked up from his cards. He, Cloud, Colby, and Sephiroth were having what Zack affectionately dubbed "Guys Card Night," although, this was the first time Cloud could remember that one of the girls (Lei, Iah, or Vinia) hadn't come in and joined a game or two.

"Nothing," Cloud replied quickly, burying his face in his cards. The other man shrugged and they went back to playing in silence.

"Sounds like something Lazard would say," Sephiroth said after a moment. Cloud looked up.

"Huh?"

"Your comment earlier….it reminded me of something Lazard would say," Sephiroth repeated.

"It _is_ something Lazard said. In fact, he said it to me, if I remember right," Zack added, smiling. He then frowned. "Being a hero isn't unattainable, right?"

Colby snorted as Sephiroth just shook his head.

"What?" Zack asked.

"Is Lazard's cryptic way of speaking confusing you, puppy-Zack?" Colby taunted.

"Hey! Don't _call_ me that!"

"But everyone calls you that when you're not around."

"What? No way!"

"Excuse me, who's Lazard?" Cloud asked timidly.

"He was the previous Director of SOLDIER," Sephiroth answered, silencing the playful banter between Colby and Zack as the two decided to talk about Lazard instead.

"Yeah! He was the guy who promoted me to 1st!" Zack said. "He was nice to the new guys, ya know?"

"I think he was really smart too…" Colby said.

"He was always up to something," Sephiroth recalled. "Scheming."

"He cared about a lot of people too," Zack said, remembering a newsletter from the Director about aiding the orphans in the Slums.

"He was either trying to save the world or burn it down, I think," Colby said, smiling. "Although, I always viewed him as pretty passive."

"He wasn't trying to burn down the world, Colby!" Zack retorted, looking slightly shocked.

"No, just ShinRa," Sephiroth muttered. When the others in the room looked at him with confused eyes, he shrugged. "You had to know him."

"Were you his friend?" Cloud asked Sephiroth.

"Per say," Sephiroth answered, but that wasn't really an answer at all. Cloud didn't pry. He knew for a fact not to try to get Sephiroth to talk more than he wanted too. Colby looked deep in thought for a moment before saying

"He basically was a younger, SOLDIER-fied Reeve Tuesti with glasses, blonde hair, and no robots."

The others in the room stared at him blankly for a moment before the burst out laughing. Partially because it was true, and partially because the visual was so hilarious.

"It's too bad you never got to meet him, Cloud. He would have liked you, I'm sure of it," Zack said, as the laughter died down.

"What happened to him?" Cloud asked, frowning. For a moment, Cloud had thought he'd found the identity of the human-persona of the panther.

"Well, um…" Colby looked unsure of how to answer. "He's…"

"Missing," Zack completed.

"Dead," Sephiroth answered, at the same time as Zack. The two SOLDIER operatives looked at each other.

"Just because the reports say he's dead doesn't mean its true," Colby whispered. "Remember An…"

"Don't." Sephiroth glared at Colby, and the younger man shut up.

"The truth is, Cloud, no one knows what happened to him for sure. He just disappeared one day," Zack sighed. Cloud wondered what 'disappeared' meant in this context. He knew there were two options:

Lazard, previous Director of SOLDIER, had taken something akin to a walk in the woods and gotten lost. Instead of coming back, he was wandering around improving his understanding of how the world works and/or running SOLDIER from an unknown location.

Lazard, previous Director of SOLDIER, had opened the front door of his home and found the Turks (or something worse) waiting for him.

Cloud also realized, that, from the way his friends had talked about the previous Director, they wondered about his fate as well.

The men turned back to their card game, no longer wishing to play but refusing to find something else to do. Sephiroth, however, was not done with the conversation.

"Where'd you hear it, Cloud?" he asked, referring back to the original comment that had started the conversation. Cloud took a deep breath and started

"Remember the night I…"

"Where's Cloud?" Iah stormed in, successfully stopping all previous conversation.

"Iah! Go away!" Zack threw down his cards and stood up. "It's guys' night, remember?" Iah's entrance and Zack's comment drew all attention to the door and off of Cloud for a moment.

At the door stood Iah, of course, but also another SOLDIER that Cloud didn't recognize. She was tall, taller than Iah, and very beautiful (although, Cloud thought, nowhere near as beautiful as Tifa). Her eyes were hazel, but glowed with the tell-tale mako-intensity all SOLDIERs had. Her brown hair was long, held back in a neat pony tail. Cloud could also see that she had dyed strands an emerald color, so her hair looked like leaves on a tree branch, if you squinted. Her uniform was modified, not the typical uniform like Zack's, but her rank as 1st was still easily identifiable. And she stared directly at him, hands on her hips, eyes unwavering, mouth in a hard, set line.

"I'm here, ma'am," Cloud answered, eyeing the other SOLDIER wearily.

"Cloud Strife?" she said, before Iah could answer. Cloud stood and saluted nervously. "Identification number Zero-Zero-One-Three?" He nodded, wondering what trouble he'd gotten into this time. The woman crossed the room and stood in front of Cloud (he was happy, in retrospect, to have chosen the chair closest to the door). Holding out her hand, the SOLDIER smiled grimly and said

"Nice to meet you, kid. I'm Feyore, your new Commander."

* * *

There were times Feyore hated her job. This was one of those times. She'd been dreading this moment ever since President Shinra had contacted her personally to tell her of a certain Shinra Soldier who was being transferred to the front lines. Specifically, her base, nicknamed the "Feywood," because her comrades liked her that much.

She hadn't complained then, but she really wished she had. She knew it would have been fruitless to argue, so instead she'd done her research, spending a week hacking the major SOLDIER base's mainframe.

It didn't take her long to realize that moving Cloud Strife, Shinra Soldier 0013, to the front lines was just another plot by Shinra to erase a Soldier with dreams.

It didn't help that some people had an inkling fear that he was like Angeal, or even Genesis.

Feyore had suspected that, even if Shinra wanted him dead, there were operatives at the main hub who wouldn't let the kid go without a fight. So there was no shock felt by her when she realized the boy's friends were some of the most powerful names in SOLDIER.

It still didn't make it easy to break the news to her two long-time friends, Iah and Lei. It didn't make the walk from the briefing room to the Rec. room any longer, nor did it delay the feeling of dread when Cloud had stood up and saluted her, staring back at her with eyes the reminded her of the sky, glowing with their own light and not the light of mako.

She didn't want to shake his hand. She wanted to hug him and tell him it was all a cruel lie and everything was going to be alright and that she wasn't there to take him away from all of his friends.

Damn SOLDIER honor. Damn it all to hell.

"Call me Fey," she said, shaking his hand when he gave it to her. Her voice was steady and confident, even though inside she felt like blowing up the Shinra base and yelling "Viva la Revolucion!" She was sick of seeing Soldiers with promise be crushed under President Shinra's dictatorial foot or Hojo's insane plans. "I'm also going to be your mentor while you're on the front lines. I know, I'm not Zack or Sephy-san, but we're going to be friends too, alright?"

Cloud was speechless.

"I know I seem nice," Fey continued. "But I can be a real bitch, so be happy I've decided to keep you on my good side."

"Um…thank you, ma'am?" Cloud replied, dropping his arm to his side. Fey immediately smacked him upside the head, before he could dodge or even register her action. "Ow!" Now he was confused _and_ in pain.

"We're equals, Cloud, even if Shinra says otherwise," she explained, before turning to his companions. "Stop glaring at me, Sephy. It's not like I want to take him with me to the Front."

Finally Cloud began to understand what was going on.

"I'm being transferred?" he asked, eyes wide. Fey nodded, looking apologetic.

"I'm the messenger and the delivery girl, unfortunately. We leave tomorrow afternoon, can you be ready?"

"What, no way!" Zack interjected.

"You can't take Cloud! He just got used to us, here!" Colby added. Fey sighed and shrugged.

"What can ya do? I have no pull with the higher-ups….Good luck getting them to change their minds, Sephy!" Fey replied, yelling the last sentence as Sephiroth stormed out of the room and down the hall, going to intimidate whatever "higher-up" he needed to.

"We're going to get this fixed, Cloud. There obviously was some mix up at Command," Iah said, before sliding out after Sephiroth.

"Ooh, mobilization of the two strongest living SOLDIERs. Well I'll be damned," Fey said, watching them go. "You have some powerful allies, kid." Cloud gave no response, but Fey didn't need one. "Can I help you pack? As much as I don't want to forcefully separate you from your surrogate family, I fear the consequences of delay will be much worse. I passed Tseng on my way here…"

Colby looked mortified but Zack was on his feet in an instant.

"I'll deal with the Turk," he growled, bolting from the room.

"I don't want you to go," Colby whispered. He walked up to Cloud and gave him a hug.

"Um, Colby…" Cloud didn't know what to say.

"Please be safe, alright? I'm going to help Iah and Sephiroth get you back here," Colby said quickly, releasing Cloud and looking from him to Fey and then back. "You'll be back here before you know it. With me and Vinia and everyone else. Fey's right, we're your family now. That means we look out for each other."

Before Cloud could even respond, Colby was gone too.

"I…" he said to the almost empty room. "I guess I never knew how lucky I really was."

Fey gave his shoulder a reassuring squeeze. "Don't worry, Angel-boy. They'll get you back."

* * *

Fey wouldn't let him carry any of his bags.

It was annoying, Cloud decided as he walked next to the Commander of the Frontline Base. She was the opposite of chivalrous, it seemed. Instead of guys doing everything for girls, Fey believed _she_ should do everything and that guys should just try and keep up.

Which Cloud was finding difficult. Even with the added weight of his bags, Fey was moving with incredible speed down the hallway. Cloud focused on keeping in stride with her, and not on the fact that in less than ten minutes, he was going to be leaving the Midgar base for an indefinite amount of time.

Maybe forever.

He tried to keep a positive outlook but…optimism had never been his thing. In fact, he was pretty sure that Lei had made up her own classification just for him.

Angsty-emo pessimist…

He wasn't too sure how he felt about that.

Fey was loading his things into the convoy vehicle while he stood by, surrounded now by his friends as they said their goodbyes. Lei was holding back tears as she handed him a small white wolf statue she'd craved. She told him the warrior spirit of the wolves would keep him safe. Vinia and Colby had gotten their whole unit to sign a goodbye/good luck card, and Vinia had made him a bandana to go with it. The piece of cloth had colors corresponding to each one of Cloud's friends, and a little symbol or saying embroidered into it (ie: Sephiroth's was grey with a little black wing, Zack's blue with a wolf, etc). Iah had given him a stack of books that she expected him to read, while Sephiroth had parted with a mastered Destruct and Cure materia (of which, he said he had plenty more). Zack had tried to give Cloud one of his old swords to train with, but found that most of them were broken from his training days. He, in the end, gave Cloud a flower he'd carefully dried and preserved. "From me and my flower girl, ya know," he'd said.

"You couldn't have made this all last night," Cloud commented, looking at the wolf in his hand and watching as Zack helped tie the bandana around his arm.

"Nope," Vinia said, looking sad. "We were saving these gifts for when you made 1st, but we decided it'd be best to give them to you now."

"Yeah, we'll have better stuff for you when you make 1st!" Lei added, smiling despite the fact that she was actually crying now. Cloud, never one to show much affection through contact, felt the need to do something to cheer her up.

But first he saluted Iah, who saluted him strongly back, but for the first time, Cloud saw in her eyes that she looked incredibly saddened. He bowed to Sephiroth who nodded back to him, and gave him a reassuring pat on the head. Colby and Zack both bear hugged him before he could sophisticatedly do anything, while Dega gave him a kiss on the forehead and a motherly hug. Gibbs thumped him hard on the back and told him to be sharp, while Jericho gave him a fatherly smile.

When it came to Lei turn, he gave her a light hug and kissed her cheek, doing the same to Vinia.

Both girls stared at him, eyes wide. Lei cradled her cheek, as if she could feel the kiss against her palm as well.

"Thank you," he said to his friends. "I'll be back soon." He turned to Fey and nodded that he was ready to go. As he climbed in the back after Fey, and the truck began to pull away, he heard Lei say

"When he gets back, do you think he'll give me a hello-kiss too?"

"On the lips? No. On the cheek…" Vinia started to answer.

"Sure," Cloud called back, hiding his blush under his uniform. "As long as you don't forget me." Lei's eyes lit up.

"I won't! I'll never forget you!" Lei shouted, waving her arms frantically over her head.

"This isn't goodbye, Cloud Strife!" Sephiroth yelled suddenly, shocking everyone at the Commander's words. "You hear me!"

Cloud smiled and nodded back.

"Yes sir!"

Turning one last time, he closed the door to the back of the moving vehicle and sat across from Fey. She smiled sadly at him.

"Sorry again, Angel-boy," she said. He shrugged.

"It is what it is. And I promised, so I'll be back," he replied. "Sephiroth's right. This isn't the goodbye."

"Since when are you an optimist?" she asked.

"Um…since Sephiroth waved goodbye to me, I guess…" Cloud answered. "Ma'a…Fey? May I ask you a question?"

"Fire away," Fey replied, leaning back against the side of the vehicle and closing her eyes.

"Why do you keep calling me 'Angel-boy?'"

"Because you have wings, duh," she replied. Cloud's eyes widened and his smiled faded completely.

"How…how did you…"

"I hacked your file off of the SOLDIER database, specifically paying attention to the inputs made by Jericho, Zack, and yourself." Fey opened her eyes and leaned closer to Cloud, staring him in the eyes. "I know everything that happened since that night." She smiled and produced a file from out of thin air. On it, Cloud could see his name neatly printed.

"Uh…I…"

"Kid, once we get there, you know I'm super-gluing your and to mine, right? You're not jumping off any buildings under my watch, wings or no wings."

Cloud felt trapped, and worried.

"Don't freak out, kid," Fey smiled, leaning back again. "No one else at the base knows, not even my fiancé, and it's going to stay that way. I'm keeping everything about you a secret. So don't worry about the wings, or the broken mirrors."

Cloud didn't no what to say. Part of him was relieved, but the other part was weary.

"Fey, I'm not crazy," he whispered. "There really was someone there."

"I believe you." Cloud's eyes widened.

"You do?"

"Yeah. It's not everyday you meet someone who can talk to the dead."

"The dead?"

"Well, maybe he's not dead, but I'm just guessing," Fey replied, opening the file and pulling out what appeared to his description of the night in the training room and also what looked like a sketch of the panther-man.

"This guy look familiar?" Cloud jumped up with shock and just about hit his head on the ceiling of the truck.

"It's…!"

"I'll be damned again," Fey said, smiling sadly at the picture. "Cloud Strife, I'm happy to introduce you to Lazard Deusericus." She paused and stared at him. "No one's seen him for about two years now…" Her eyes locked on his again

"No one but you."

* * *

**A/N Not really a cliff hanger but it's there. More of a pshycological spin, I guess. I dunno.**

**But! Is the Cloaked Man gone for good? What's going to happen to Cloud on the Frontlines? Why is Cloud talking to missing persons? ALL THIS AND MORE, coming up! hehe**

**As always, I beg for reviews and flames and whatever. OH! BY THE WAY!**

**Final Fantasy XII do not belong to me either. **


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: I know, it's been six months. I'm sorry. I'm a terrible person. But maybe, if you're lucky (and I get my homework done), I'll have another chapter to upload tomorrow. **

**To everyone who has read and reviewed and kept saying nice things like "This story is really good, I hope you update soon," I'd like to thank you. I really enjoy getting reviews that are encouraging and it makes me want to keep going. Now that I've written a novel in a month (NaNoWriMo) and been accpeted to basically all of the colleges I want to go to, I'll be writing for fun more often. **

**But that doesn't make me any less terrible for taking this long.**

**Enjoy.**

**Oh, slight language warning, cussing and such.**

* * *

To Grow Wings

Chapter 6

Fey seemed completely fine with the fact that Cloud was no longer talking to her. Oh, sure, at first, she'd been angry and tempted to shake him silly until he said something.

Then she'd realized he was carsick, and offered him a tranquilizer to calm his stomach. He'd accepted it and then lapsed into another bout of silence, curled up slightly against the side of the truck. Fey was ready to shake him again when she realized that _this_ time he'd passed out.

Smiling in a motherly way to herself, she carefully moved to his side and laid him down so his head rested in her lap. He sighed contently in his drug-induced sleep and she patted his head.

They remained that way for the rest of the ride.

* * *

The convoy pulled to a stop and Fey heard the sound of doors slamming and people yelling orders. Gently, she shook Cloud awake. He sat up groggily and leaned against her heavily while he rubbed sleep from his eyes.

"We're here," Fey said, smiling down at him. He nodded and yawned, only to stop mid-action and look at his location. With a yelp sounding something akin to a hurt dog, he jumped up and quickly moved to the furthest point away from her.

"Sorry Ma'am!" he said, then covered his head for the blow he was already trained to expect. Fey didn't hit him, though. She was too busy laughing.

"Nice reaction time," she said, smiling and standing up. "Don't worry, my little Angel, you can sleep on me any time you want." She wiggled her eyebrows at him in a playful manner and he blushed.

"Didn't you say you had a fiancé?" He asked nervously. She shrugged.

"Yeah, so?" Cloud didn't answer, so Fey just rolled her eyes. The door to the trailer opened then and outside stood a handful of SOLDIERs and ShinRa Soldiers. As Cloud peered out from behind Fey, he noticed that the grunts seemed to be doing all the work and the SOLDIERs were just standing around, looking bored. He tried not to groan and slid carefully back into the shadows so anyone on the outside could not see him.

Fey grabbed two of his bags and hefted them up. "Hey you!" she called, "Anderson!" Cloud watched as the most decorated (and self-centered) looking 1st-ranked SOLDIER ran to the back of the truck and stood arrogantly at attention.

"Ma'am?" he said in way that could only be described as easy and informal. Cloud noticed his "attention" stance was sloppy and the man didn't seem to care.

"Take these; don't drop them," Fey said, throwing the two bags to the unsuspecting Anderson. The SOLDIER fumbled but caught them both. He looked down at the luggage and then back at Fey.

"What do you want me to do with these?" Anderson asked, looking disdainfully down at the bags.

"I need you to take them to the Central Complex and then later to 0013's room," Fey answered, hopping out of the truck and waving for Cloud to follow her. Cloud hesitantly stepped into the light after her. Anderson caught sight of him and immediately dropped the bags on the ground.

"I ain't a bitch for a _grunt_," he said, pointing at Cloud. With a muttered curse, the 1st-rank began to walk away. Fey looked down at the dropped items, at Anderson, and then to Cloud.

"Was there anything valuable…breakable…in those?" she asked, with forced kindness. Cloud looked carefully at her and saw that her eyes were glowing with mako-infused anger. He took a step back, even as he made the realization that the anger wasn't directed at him. "Answer me."

"Um…n-no ma'am…I mean, there was a picture frame and some of the stuff from Lei and all the rest and…nothing valuable," Cloud said quickly.

"Sounds ever bit valuable to me," Fey said, and her enflamed gaze honed out Anderson again. "Anderson!" she shouted, and the retreating SOLDIER stopped dead in his tracks. All the talking and movement of the other soldiers died instantly. "What was your order?" Anderson stood up straighter and turned to Fey.

"To not drop that scum's shit, _ma'am_."

"The only _shit_ I see around here is you," Fey said. "Start running." Anderson's mouth dropped open.

"You can't be serious!" he shouted.

"Run, retard, or I'm going to make it so you can't move for a year!" Fey ordered. Anderson turned and sprinted away, knocking over a 2nd-rank who had the misfortune to be in his path. She hit the ground hard. Some others snickered. "Who laughed?" Fey yelled, and Cloud watched as four other SOLDIERs took off running after Anderson, their hands over their heads. "Got them all trained like dogs, those stupid boys. Xi, you okay?" The 2nd-rank waved unsteadily and staggered back to her feet. Fey ran over to steady her and the two walked back to Cloud.

"Ma'am, you didn't have to…" Cloud started, going to pick up his bags. Fey interrupted him.

"That kind of attitude toward their fellow man is not to be displayed at my base. Anderson knows this, and purposely refused to follow the rules. Thus he—and his band of jokesters—are running laps until I say to stop. Which will be around the end of the week, if they're lucky." She sighed and shook her head. "I wonder if ShinRa has any idea of the monsters he's created. Man's inhumanity to man because of a _rank_, gods damnit all." The 2nd-rank nodded sadly. "Oh, Cloud, this is Xyfing-Tei, she's a recruit from Cosmo Canyon. Most people can't say her name right, so we call her 'Xi' or 'Siren'. Xi, this is Cloud Strife. He's the new recruit they sent me to pry from the Midgar Base. You two be friends now."

The 2nd-rank took off her helmet to reveal umber hair with died red streaks, and kind dark eyes. Her skin was darker, as par to the Canyon's native tribes, and Cloud could see along the slightly exposed sink of her neck and arms there were the beginnings of tribal markings. She was older than him, he could also see that.

"Pleasure to meet you, ma'am," Cloud said, saluting. Xi saluted back, and smiled.

"Pleasure to meet you Cloud," she said, her voice laced with a light, native accent. "Please, call me by my name. No formalities please."

"Good luck with that," Fey muttered. "He still calls _me_ 'ma'am'." Fey pried the bags from Cloud's fingers quickly and passed one to Xi. The other woman took it carefully and slung it over her shoulder.

"Can I _please_ carry my own stuff?" Cloud asked timidly. Fey sighed and handed him back one of his bags.

"Fine, but only because I have to make sure Anderson isn't cheating himself out of his character building exercise. Siren, honey, you know where to take Cloud right?" Xi nodded and motioned for Cloud to follow her as Fey ran off.

As they entered the Central Complex, Xi began to ask him simple questions, as to start a conversation. Cloud answered them as honestly as possible, recognizing Xi's manner of questioning and conversational patterns to mirror both Lei Tien and Iah Ling's way of speech. He didn't like to give long answers, but found that Xi didn't like to talk nearly as much as the sisters from the Midgar base.

"Do you know Lei Tien or Iah Ling?" he asked quietly during one lull of conversation. Xi smiled at him brightly.

"Who does not know our dear princesses?" she asked, nodding. "Yes, I was invited to SOLDIER by them. Lei and I are wonderful friends, and to Iah I am an acquaintance and former guard."

"So they really are princesses? I mean, Zack told me, but I didn't believe him. He makes stuff up all the time," Cloud replied as he moved out of the way of a 1st-rank with an armful of papers. He heard a light "excuse me" and "thank you" come from the passing SOLDIER (see, not _all_ SOLDIERs are bad. Just most of them).

"Yes," Xi chuckled. "They are truly princesses of the Tribe." They stopped at an opened door. "Here, I believe this is where Fey wants you to stay, at least for now." She put down her bag. "I must go report for sentry duty, but I will be back later. We shall talk more, for I wish to be friends as Fey says. "

"Me too," Cloud said, smiling nervously.

"Fey tells me you have a girlfriend too. We'll talk about her too," Xi said, patting Cloud on the head. "And I'll tell you about my boyfriend back home. See, we are just friends. Don't be nervous. Chi-san." Cloud blushed heavily and changed the subject.

"Chi?"

"Your name in Cetra is 'Chi Ka,'" Xi said, nodding happily. Cloud carefully hid a shocked look, and she didn't notice. "So I will call you Chi-san, you will call me Xi or Siren."

"I can call you Xyfing-Tei, if you'd like," Cloud offered, pronouncing her name as perfectly as someone who lived outside of Cosmo could. Her eyes lit up.

"You may, for you say it fine. But it is a mouthful," she reminded him, smiling again and waving as she walked off.

_Chi Ka?_ Cloud thought, nervous again. _Didn't Iah say that was the name of the first Savior of this planet?_ He sighed. _No, Cloud! Don't think this way again. It's that whole stupid cloaked man territory. Don't think about it. It'll go away, or you'll drive yourself insane. _

Sighing, and choosing to instead marvel at the fact that he—the most anti-social Soldier to walk the planet—had already made a friend of sorts, he picked up his other bag and walked quietly into the room.

* * *

Cloud stood silently against the wall as he watched a man cleaning up. The man was wearing a uniform that made him about the same rank as Colby: still a grunt, but the highest ranking grunt around.

The man was busy making the only bed in the room, his back turned to Cloud. His rifle and a military-issued short sword leaned up against the wall on the other side of the door. On the bedside table sat an opened letter, which Cloud assumed the man had been reading before he had decided to start cleaning.

He vaguely wondered why Fey wanted him to stay here. Where was he supposed to sleep? The floor? _Well, it could be worse,_ he thought quickly. _I could be running laps for the next year like Anderson._

The man straightened up and examined his work for a moment before turning around and catching sight of Cloud.

"Dear god!" he said, looking incredibly startled. "You scared the shit out of me, kid. _Say_ something next time." He smiled kindly then as he held a hand to his chest to calm his heartbeat. "May I help you? My apologies for the outburst."

Cloud set down his bags and saluted stiffly.

"Soldier 0013, Cloud Strife, reporting sir. Commander Feyore sent me here." The man nodded.

"At ease, Cloud." Cloud did as he was told, sort of. "I'm your commanding office, Aion. It's a pleasure."

"Likewise, sir."

"Are those your things, Cloud?" Aion asked, walking over to the shy boy. Cloud nodded, still stiff. "At _ease_, Cloud. I'm harmless." Cloud finally relaxed as Aion picked up his things and moved them further into the room. He went back and closed the door as Cloud pried himself from the wall. "You don't have much, do you? I can tell only some of this is actually clothes."

"Not really, sir."

"Just Aion, Cloud. If Fey hears you saying all this 'sir' stuff, she'll make you run or something." Cloud nodded. "The only people who have to use them are the SOLDIERs, when addressing us, the Grunts, or Fey." Cloud looked confused.

"Isn't that…kind of reversed? With all due respect, sir…"

"_Aion_, Cloud. And yeah, it'll seem awkward at first, but you'll get used to it. Fey's trying to cure the SOLDIERs of their ever present disease."

"Disease?"

"Yeah, overwhelming arrogance and their superiority complexes," Aion laughed. "Did she say where you were to be put?"

"Here, I assumed." Aion stopped for a moment to contemplate that. He seemed to draw a realization and nodded.

"So _you're _the Soldier Fey was telling me about. The one Sephiroth and Zack and the rest all took a liking to."

"Yeah, I guess that's me," Cloud said, nervous again. Aion smiled, and walked over to the bedside table. He picked up the letter and scanned it again. He pointed for Cloud to sit in one of the chairs located at a desk on the far left wall. Cloud sat and waited for the man to speak again.

"You're the Cloud my sister always writes about then," he replied, laughing. Cloud cocked his head to the side and looked terribly confused. Aion smiled. "Vinia is my little sis." Cloud's eyes lit up with recognition.

"I remember her mentioning having a brother," Cloud replied lightly. "I just didn't know you were a Soldier too. We're in the same unit. It's her, and Colby, and me in the tactical team too."

"Handpicked by Sephiroth, yeah, I remember," Aion laughed. "She was ecstatic. It's awesome to finally meet you. Now I just got to get my ass in gear and meet this Colby fella. She writes about him a lot too."

"Has she mentioned a marriage date yet?" Cloud asked, then immediately wished he hadn't. That comment was a running joke with Zack and the others about Vinia and Colby.

"She really likes this guy then?" Aion asked, adopting a concerned, brotherly tone.

"I…I was joking, sorry," Cloud said quickly. But Aion didn't let it drop.

"She talks about him often."

"You said she talks about _me_ often, and we're not in love or anything," Cloud defended.

"Yeah, she talks about you the same was she talks me. As _family_, you know. But this Colby guy is different. I mean, he seems like a nice guy...and yet…. Man, I just wish she'd tell me about these things…"

"Ah, I'm marrying a hypocrite," Fey said, startling both men. She stood, leaning against the doorframe and watching the two conversing. "Aion, deary, _you_ still haven't told your little sister you're getting _married_, and yet you're giving Cloud here a lecture about your sister not telling you she's _dating_." Her arms were crossed and she was tapping her fingers on her forearm, waiting for Aion's reply.

"Uh…Hi…Fey," Aion said nervously. To Cloud he muttered, "No one ever _knocks_ around here." Clouds nodded, but secretly, he was wondering if he should be moving to stand at attention or just save himself the trouble and skip it.

Actually, he was trying to make sense of the words Fey had just said. Was Aion the fiancé she kept talking about?

"Cloud, you look like your brain just exploded," Fey commented, walking into the room and sitting on Aion's neatly made bed. Aion quickly shut the door again, locking it this time. He looked like he was sick of people walking into the room and scaring him. Cloud still said nothing. "Aion, don't I get a kiss hello? This is the first time I've been back in a week."

"Uh, sure, Fey, but…Cloud's sitting right there and I think you broke him already," Aion waved his hand in front of Cloud's face just to make sure he was still alive.

"Oh, he'll get over it." Fey gave Aion a peck on the cheek and then poked Cloud's shoulder harshly. The boy jolted as if he'd been electrocuted and then he finally said something.

"You two are like Gibbs and Dega." Aion started to laugh but Fey just nodded.

"Yeah, we're as mixed-matched as them, aren't we? Aion, where's my superglue?" Both men were startled at the sudden change of subject.

"Where you always leave it, why?" Aion answered, watching as Fey walked over to the bed and disappeared under it, looking for her superglue.

"I have to superglue Cloud's arm to mine!" she shouted from under the bed. "Found it! Aion, hold Cloud so he doesn't run away!" Aion looked at the shocked boy next to him and frowned.

"Fey, I know you want to keep him safe, but super-gluing him to you is a bad idea that will probably end up hurting." Fey appeared from below the bed and rested her elbow on it, looking displeased.

"How _else_ am I supposed to keep him from jumping off buildings or getting in trouble with Cynthia's gang…I mean, I guess I didn't help, giving Anderson laps…"

"Who's Cynthia?" Cloud asked.

"You'll know," Aion said nervously. "Avoid at all costs. But…she's Anderson's leader, so…yeah, you're already screwed. Cloud frowned and nodded obediently.

"I _hate_ that bitch," Fey said, sighing. "I know why ShinRa stuck her here too! He _couldn't_ deal with her. Plus, she seems so fishy. I don't trust her at all."

Silence settled in for a moment, with each person thinking their own thoughts. Aion was trying to logically find a way for Cloud to remain safe while on the front lines, Fey was trying to concoct a way to lure Aion away from Cloud so she could commence her superglue plan. And Cloud was praying to the goddess that he wouldn't die his first day.

"Fey, dear, do you really want Cloud to stay here…man; you can sit still forever, can't you?" The first comment was from Aion to Fey, the other was to Cloud.

"Why can't he stay here?" Fey asked, grinning. Aion looked at Cloud and then said to Fey:

"He'll die from exposure." Cloud's ears turned red as he blushed heavily and looked at his feet.

"Look! Aion, he's blushing! That's adorable!" Fey smiled at Cloud and he looked mortified. "But you're right…where else can I put you that I know you'll be safe…I know! Xi's room is open! I'll put you with her!"

Aion groaned. That wasn't going to solve anything.

Fey didn't seem to notice.

* * *

After the craziness of the first day, Cloud thought he was going to go psychotic here. Xi was completely willing to share a room with him, and after the first awkward night of sharing a room with a woman, they had agreed to hang up a curtain to separate the room and make them both more comfortable.

On the third day, he'd met Cynthia in the way of being thrown against a wall and told that if he _ever_ messed with any of "her 1sts" again, he was going to die. Since then, Cloud had made it a point to hang close to Xi and/or Aion and avoid the vengeful Cynthia as much as possible.

He agreed, however, with Fey. Cynthia spelled Rat in his head, and he could easily see that she was up to something fishy. However, when he mentioned something to Xi, she got nervous. That was when Cloud also realized that Xi herself seemed to have a hidden agenda.

He decided to keep both facts to himself. He liked Xi enough to assume that what _she_ was up to was good at heart.

By the end of the week, Cloud was incredibly homesick for the Midgar base. He was under the type of bullying and harassment that he'd sought to escape when he had left Niblehiem. Now he was stuck in the same madness, and he wanted to run away again. He was becoming introverted and wrathful again, and wondering if he was taking leaps back from the person Zack had been helping him become.

He hadn't started any fights yet, though.

Xi was doing all she could for him. They all were. They were good friends, after two months of living together at the base. Aion, Fey, Xi, and him. That was the best he had to fill the void left by the people he now could only write to.

He was slipping back into the darkness again.

* * *

It was sunny. She sat quietly at the well, looking at the ever shining sun. Out of habit, she looked towards her neighbor's house, waiting for that door to open and the shy little boy to creep out.

He wouldn't. He wasn't here anymore. They all had scared him away.

The door did open, however, and an older woman walked out, holding a broom. She waved to the woman. The woman waved back.

Tifa Lockhart slipped off of her perch and walked over to the sweeping woman.

"Afternoon, Mrs. Strife."

"Good Afternoon, Tifa," Mrs. Strife replied, smiling at the younger girl. "How are you today?"

"I'm fine, ma'am. How about you?" The woman sighed.

"I'm doing fine too, Tifa."

"You miss him, don't you?" Tifa prodded gently. Mrs. Strife smiled at the girl.

"How can a mother not miss her only child?" She smiled anyway, despite the somber words she spoke. "But I know he's out there, achieving his dream. I would have never held him back."

"So…he's doing alright?" Tifa asked, trying not to seem like she was prying. The older woman watched her with all knowing eyes.

"Yes, fine enough. He just got transferred to a frontline base…he didn't like that decision much but he's coping. He sends his love and all. He asked about you, too."

"He…he did?" Tifa flushed.

"Yeah, wondered how you were doing. I told him you were fine and asking about him often."

"You did?" Even more crimson invaded her cheeks.

"Was I not supposed to mention that?" Mrs. Strife looked embarrassed as well. "I'm sorry Tifa. I'll avoid that subject in the future."

"No, it's alright, Mrs. Strife…I just…no, you can tell him whatever you want," Tifa remedied quickly. "Mrs. Strife, may I ask you something?"

"Of course dear, you can always ask me anything." Tifa looked at the woman whom she considered a surrogate mother for the one she'd lost.

"I wondered if I could come over tonight and make you dinner. You know, like…having a girl's night or something. Just me an you," Tifa requested bashfully. "We could hang out and talk or something." Mrs. Strife beamed at the girl.

"That sounds like a wonderful suggestion, Tifa dear. But what prompted this? Wouldn't you rather spend time with your friends? It is a Saturday after all."

"Nah, I can hang out with them any day. Plus…you seem really lonely sometimes."

"I miss my son…" Mrs. Strife replied, looking down. "But…don't let him know that. He can be such a momma's boy sometimes. He catches wind that I miss him and he'll come back."

"He'd give up his dream to be with you, huh?" Tifa inquired, smiling.

"Yeah. He'd give up everything for the people he loves," Mrs. Strife replied. "I mean, you could have him pretty well trained to do whatever you wanted, I bet."

"What was that?" Tifa had spaced out for a moment.

"Cloud is a good boy, don't you think?" Mrs. Strife replied, pretending to repeat that sentence. Tifa nodded happily. "So, what time shall I expect you, Tifa?"

"Oh, around six I guess."

"Alright dear. We'll see you then…Oh! I better clean the house," Mrs. Strife replied absently, before hurrying into the house to begin her cleaning. Tifa laughed quietly after the older woman's antics.

She turned away from the house and looked blankly at hers. She didn't want to go home, she decided, and walked passed, going no particular direction. She ended up at the gates to the ShinRa Mansion.

She knew the stories. The place was haunted. Monsters lived there. Zombies. Bad things, things that ate little girls who disobeyed warnings. Do not enter. Don't pass go. Return from where you came type of stuff.

Cloud had found a safe haven in this place.

Tifa opened the creaky gate and walked up the old cobblestone path. She, out of habit, knocked when she arrived at the large double doors.

Of course there was no answer. She opened the doors timidly and peered inside. Maybe she should go home…

Something made her enter, though, and as she stepped into the decaying hall, she wondered vaguely what this place could have looked like in its splendor.

Out of the corner of her eye, she thought she saw movement. Curious, she cautiously followed where she thought she saw something and ended up in the music room.

She saw the piano and, with out a single thought, moved herself to sit on the bench. Out of habit, she played a few scales on the old thing, noting which keys needed tuned. Middle C wouldn't play at all. That was strange.

She decided to play a familiar aria to calm herself. She began the tune and was focused on playing until she heard something.

Somewhere, someone was playing a violin.

She continued to play (she knew this one by heart), and tried to listen to where the sound was coming from. It sounded like it was nearby…in the same room, even. But she knew she was alone. One quick scan of the room told her that. She continued to play, but was unsettled even more when the violin began to accompany her.

She stopped, and the violin continued only for a moment before stopping too.

"Hello?" Tifa called. Silence. "I know you're there." Somewhere, there was a clock ticking. Probably in the hall. She'd seen a grandfather clock there. "You play the violin very well." Nothing answered her. Tifa was beginning to feel foolish, but she had a creeping suspicion that someone was watching her. "I…My name's Tifa Lockhart…I'm a friend of Cloud Strife."

"Really?" replied the air and Tifa screamed. She quickly covered her mouth and looked around frantically. Her eyes locked on the figure that hadn't been there before: a tall man leaning against the far wall, a violin propped against his foot. "You have a piercing scream." He crossed his arms and watched her suspiciously for a moment before speaking one last time. "Leave."

"Who are you?"

"I don't talk to strangers."

"You're talking to me now. Why are you here?"

"Go away."

"Make me," Tifa said, finally gathering her courage and frowning at this man's attempt to be cold and calloused. She saw in his partially covered eyes that it was a carefully crafted and mastered act. She tried not to focus on the fact that he was semi-transparent. "So I guess this place really is haunted."

"Go away before I call upon the powers of hell to kill you," the man replied drying. When Tifa just laughed, he frowned. "I'm serious. It'd give them something to do. Goddess knows they need it."

"So much for not talking to strangers," Tifa accused, watching the man with interest now. "Did you know Cloud?" The man shifted and looked out the window behind Tifa's head.

"He came here often."

"So you were friends."

"Dead men have no such need."

"Do you miss him? He's a SOLDIER now," Tifa said, trying to read his reaction. The man's face didn't change.

"That's nice."

"Don't you care at all? Cloud used to come here all the time! I know, because this is where he'd hide from the other kids. He did that since he was eight," Tifa prodded, trying to get some human reaction out of the specter.

"I'm dead, Miss Lockhart. I don't care about anything."

Tifa sighed, exasperated. She stood up and made ready to leave. She was still vaguely disturbed by the fact that she was talking to a dead guy anyway.

"I'll be back again," she stated. "So we can play together some more. You are a wonderful violinist, sir."

"Don't come back. I won't play for you again. It wouldn't be the same," he said suddenly.

"The same?"

"As playing with Cloud."

"Cloud played piano?" Tifa asked, slightly encouraged.

"No," the man replied bluntly. "He could not formally play, and if you sat him down today he couldn't play a note. But put some music in front of him and sing it once, he'll repeat it with few errors. But from memory? Never. On his own? Not likely. Prompted, for a friend or to help someone…he'd do it every time…."

"That's amazing! I never knew he had such a gift," Tifa continued, smiling.

"I'm sure you and I both know nothing about him, truly." Tifa's smile faded. "You are no friend of his, Miss Lockhart. He had no friends here." She frowned and looked away. Before the silence could settle in, the man spoke one last question. "Do you ever hear bells ring, with no prompting or cause?"

"Huh?"

"Cloud told me that sometimes he could hear a bell, like one of from a church or clock tower, ring at random points. He said before you fell—it was you who fell, wasn't it?—he heard a bell ring. I heard it too, but that was when your mother died."

"I…I don't know…" Tifa said, uncomfortable that this man knew strangely much about the going-ons in the town. And about her.

"Like now, Tifa. Do you hear a bell now?" the man asked. Tifa gasped, because she did.

Somewhere, a bell was chiming. It rang, thirteen times.

* * *

Xi and Cloud walked side by side, both on the lookout for Cynthia. They had made it to the main hub of the Central Complex and not been sighted yet.

That SOLDIER was on a rampage, and she'd picked Cloud as her target.

The two watched as many SOLDIERs and grunt hustled this way and that, off to do whatever needed to be done. This main hallway was a large, open circle with many sub halls converging and diverging at its center.

"I think we lost her, Chi," Xi whispered, looking around skeptically. She had every right to be skeptical, especially as Cynthia stormed into view. Cloud gulped as the woman's eyes focused on him.

"13!" she called. Cloud winced. She still had no idea what his name was, and he'd been here for awhile (he'd stopped keeping track of the days. It just made him depressed). "There you are. I've been looking _everywhere_ for you." She crossed the circle and stopped right in front of the two of them. "Look, kid, stop running. It only makes me pissed and your punishment worse."

"Chi-san didn't do anything!" Xi stated, stepping in front of Cloud. "You and your stupid vendettas—"

"Shut up, you stupid canyon dweller. I wasn't talking to you." Cynthia backhanded Xi and the 2nd-rank SOLDIER stumbled back, holding her face. "Scum…I can't even believe ShinRa lets filth like you run around. I think you should all be gassed or shot." A crowd had started to form, silently watching the scene.

"Hey, shut up!" Cloud interjected. His fists were clenched and his breathing was measured. He was preparing to fight.

"Grunt, did I give you permission to even exist?" Cynthia scowled, glaring at Cloud. "In fact, I don't think you have even the right to lick my shoes. Go die somewhere, would you? It'd make so many lives better. In fact, you and that scum there should commit double suicide or something."

"Shut the hell up!" Cloud yelled again, and Cynthia's mouth tightened into a thin, hazardous line. Mako-green clashed with ice-blue as their eyes locked.

"Drop, grunt, and start pushing the ground," she ordered. The room around them was so silent that someone could have dropped a pin and it would have sounded like a bomb exploding.

"Kiss my ass," Cloud replied.

"You little shit!" Cynthia yelled, and Cloud knew this was it. The SOLDIER charged at him with inhuman speed, but Cloud remembered his training from Zach and Sephiroth. He easily dodged and loosened a knife from a concealed location. When Cynthia grabbed onto his foot, he used her momentum to launch from her grasp and leave a fairly deep gash in the side of her arm. She howled in pain and anger. "I'm going to kill you!" she screamed, eyes glowing with rage.

Cloud was ready with a comeback, but it died on his lips. The knife felt from his hand and clattered to the ground. His eyes seemed to be unable to focus, suddenly, and he stood shock-still, staring at Cynthia but seeing right through her.

Cynthia made to charge him again, arm bleeding heavily, when this change occurred. She took two steps and was stopped by Xi. The 2nd-rank was holding onto her with all her strength, but her eyes were focused on Cloud.

Suddenly, Cloud dropped to the ground, holding his head and screaming bloody murder. Cynthia was so shocked that she stumbled away and pressed herself against the wall, staring at Cloud as if he'd sprouted a tail. Xi stayed put, eyes wide.

Cloud saw none of this. In that moment, just a few seconds ago, where he'd lost focus, he'd heard a bell chime (one). It had been loud, so loud that Cloud was sure his head would explode. He was writhing in pain, trying to get the sound to stop. Another bell sounded (two).

"Stop, make it stop!" Cloud screamed, forgetting he was in a very public place. The crowd began to mummer, unsure of what to do.

"Someone get Fey and Aion!" Xi called, and she watched as two grunts bolted in different directions, appearing literally seconds later with the two leaders following them. Cloud was gasping on the ground, coughing up blood.

Another bell sounded. Only he could hear it (three). Through his pain, he forced himself to keep track. There was another (four).

"What's going on?" Fey called.

"Cynthia did something to him!" Xi exclaimed, panicking.

"It wasn't me! That freak is having some kind of episode!" Cynthia defended, still pressed away from everyone. Her eyes were locked on Cloud, however, and she had a strange smile on her face.

Aion slid to Cloud's side, trying to get him the hold his head up.

(five)

Cloud was shaking so badly that Aion couldn't hold him alone. Fey was there, then, clutching the boy's other arm in attempts to keep him from breaking something as he writhed in pain.

"Is he having a seizure?" Aion asked Fey quietly. "His file said nothing about any health problems." Fey's worried eyes met his, and he realized she didn't know what was going on with the boy.

Xi was praying over in her corner (six).

Suddenly, Cloud's head snapped up and his eyes focused on Cynthia. He pointed a shaking finger at the wall behind her head and screamed.

"Go away!" Blood seeped from his mouth and he coughed it up before screaming again. "Go away! Leave!" Fey tried to hold him, but he was struggling to get away from them and further away from Cynthia.

"Cloud, what is it? What's wrong?" Aion begged. The boy was too far gone to hear them (seven).

Because Cloud saw the man Fey had told him was named Lazard, standing quietly next to Cynthia.

Lazard held up one finger, as if to tell Cloud to be quiet (eight). He pointed at Cynthia and mouthed something. Something like a warning.

_You're in terrible danger here, Cloud._

"Make it stop!" Cloud begged the man no one could see, to stop the ringing no one could hear (nine). "Please, _please, _make it stop!"

"Make what stop?" Fey asked. The crowd around them was moving nervously. Cynthia was smiling, her eyes full of wonder and realization. Cloud started right at her and the smile died when he smiled wickedly at her (ten).

"_Traitor_," he whispered, but in the silence, everyone heard him. His voice was strange; it wasn't his own. "_I know who you really are_." He pointed at her and laughed. "_I know what you really want_."

The bell rang again, echoing in Cloud's taxed brain (eleven). He was trembling so badly, and in so much pain, that his eyes were involuntarily leaking tears.

"_It will never be yours,_" he said, his arm dropping again and his body becoming limp. "_It's mine…only mine_."

Twelve…Thirteen…

"Make it stop…the ringing…the bells…make it stop…something terrible…something terrible…" Cloud whispered, as he blacked out and collapsed boneless in Fey and Aion's grasps. "Something terrible…something terrible…thirteen bells ring and then it's over…"

* * *

**A/N: As I said, I want to get another chapter up because I don't like leaving it there. Hope you enjoyed it! Sorry for all the grammer (grammar, however its spelled) mistakes and such. I don't edit my pieces very well at 2:30 in the morning. **

**Questions? Comments? Concerns? Annoyances because I've introduced more new characters? haha. Love you all**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: This is a quick filler chapter with some information that will be useful later. I'll have one more chapter up soon before I disapear to write my other stories, and I'm going to have to leave it on a cliff hanger, but it'll be something. And the next chapter will probablly be long. haha.**

**Anyway.**

**By the way, in this chapter, I'm bringing in the "Originol AVALANCHE," who only appear in the Japanese-Only game "Before Crisis." Now, I'll be honest. I'm a stupid American. So no, I don't own the game, and don't know much about it. However I have done as much research as time has alotted me. Saying that, if you've never heard of the game, know that Sears (aka Shears, depending on the translation), Elfe, and Fuhito are real characters in the FFVII universe. I tried to keep them as in character as I could, however, I have never seen any true dialouge said by them. I've only read some game scripts about them and multiple character bios. So, saything that as well, Sears is most likely out of character. Elfe is the best I could do, and I left Fuhito out of the conversations because I sorely dislike him. For anyone who knows what I'm talking about, you'll agree, no?**

**So I hope you enjoy this chapter, for as filler-ish as it is. It gets me to where I need to go quite nicely, however. Also, if you HAVE played "Before Crisis" or have more information that I could read/watch/learn from, I'd love it. **

**Next to Cloud and Vincent, Elfe is my favorite character. **

**Disclamers apply as always. **

* * *

Chapter Seven

Cloud opened his eyes and was assaulted by the harsh white light he always associated with infirmaries. He turned his head slowly to the side. Xi was sitting at his bedside, watching him intently.

"You're awake," she said simply, carefully. Cloud nodded and looked back at the ceiling. He didn't say anything. "They ran some tests. Everything…is normal." Cloud nodded again. "No one can explain why you had something similar to an epileptic episode."

"Zack can tell you."

"Cloud…you're at the Feywood, remember? Zack is in Midgar. He can't tell us anything right now."

"Ask him."

Xi sighed and looked down at her hands.

"You're not human, are you?" she whispered, and she didn't have to look up to know that Cloud was watching her intently. "Not all the way…There's something different about you. Humans don't do what you did. They can't…they just don't know things or act like you. You're different, Cloud Strife."

"I know." She looked up at his comment, and found him staring at the ceiling again. "I know I'm different. I know I don't belong here. But I don't know why and that scares me."

"I'm sorry Cloud."

"You're not all you say you are either," Cloud replied, staring at her again. His eyes seemed to peer into her soul, and Xi looked away.

"I know," she replied. Her hands twisted in her lap as she struggled to find words. Cloud felt thoughts drifting into his head and frowned.

"Stop," he ordered suddenly. "Just stop…thinking…" Xi frowned at him and stood up, looking worried. "I can hear your thoughts. You should go, if you don't want me to find out." She looked sad, but smiled slightly.

"You are a good soul, Cloud Strife. Something about you shines with light in this terribly dark world…" She kissed his forehead. "I'll get Fey and Aion."

Cloud watched as she left, wondering exactly what thoughts he'd stopped himself from hearing.

* * *

"Miss Fey, Aion, he's awake." Xi stood awkwardly in the door, waiting for the reply from either the Commander or the Elite. Neither spoke.

She looked at Aion, who was busy scribbling a letter to his sister. Knowing him, he wasn't leaving anything out about the situation Cloud was in, and was probably highly recommending a rescue mission.

Fey was occupying the desk, her back to the door and to her fiancé. The desktop was covered with papers from a black file-folder that was lying on the floor. She was reading over every bit of paper, staring at ever picture, trying to make sense of it all.

"When did he awaken?" Fey finally asked.

"Just a few minutes ago."

"Did he say anything?"

"He's afraid…" Xi replied. Fey turned in her chair and crossed her arms.

"Has he figured out that you're the AVALANCHE spy yet?" Xi's head shot up and she backed away. Aion's gaze flicked between the two women. "I've known for awhile, Xi. Don't worry. If I thought you—or they—were any true threat, I'd have turned you in a long time ago."

"I-I…" Xi fumbled for an excuse or something to say.

"Just assure me that Cynthia isn't AVALANCHE."

"She's not. I…I have no idea who she really is. I thought…I thought maybe she was one of…one of us…but she's not…"

"Good. I'm still holding on to your secret, but I think your connections might help us out. I need to talk to Cloud, to see what he will let me tell you, and then I think I want you to leak this information to your superiors."

"You mean…Mistress Elfé?" Xi looked nervous. "You want me to tell her about Cloud?"

"Why are you nervous? I thought she was a shy little thing."

"She…if she knows about Cloud, she may try to steal him."

"What? Like she keeps trying to do with that flower girl in the Slums? Okay, that's fine," Fey said, smiling and standing up. "He may be safer with you. And plus, you don't even know the half of it. Come on; let's go see what he as to say." She walked over to Xi and patted her head before walking out. Xi scrambled after her.

Aion jumped to his feet, dropping the letter and running after the two girls. He just about ran into the back of Xi, however, when he made it to the infirmary.

"Hey, what's up?" Aion asked.

"Where is he?" Xi asked, looking at the empty bed. "He just woke up! With the sedatives, he still shouldn't be able to move."

* * *

Cloud walked silently along the halls, relishing the feel of the cool tile on his bare feet. He was not wearing his uniform; they'd taken that from him to run the tests. He was in loose white pants and a matching scrub-top. He assumed he looked like a ghost. He certainly _felt_ like one.

He wasn't too sure where he was walking to, either. He knew he was walking on autopilot, and that he should really still be in the infirmary, taking a nap or something.

His feet stopped moving and he looked around to see where he'd ended up.

He was in the same hallway where he'd had his last episode. The place was deserted. He wondered why he'd come here, of all places.

Suddenly, he heard someone talking. The voice kept getting closer, and it didn't take him long to figure out it was Cynthia.

She was talking heatedly to someone on a PHS. And, if he wasn't mistaken, it seemed she was talking about him.

"No, you don't get it!" Cynthia hissed, coming into view. She was too focused on her conversation to see Cloud was watching her. "This kid's the one we've been looking for! He had this whole fit last week…" she trailed off for a moment, and Cloud scowled to himself.

He'd been out for a week? Why?

"No, he started spouting out this stuff about bells. Yes _those_ bells, you dingbat. What _else_ rings thirteen times and no one hears it but a certain person? Yes, of _course_ I heard something. What do you mean why didn't I start having a seizure? I can just hear the damn things. You have to be a certain person for them to actually affect." Cynthia looked annoyed, and rubbed her face in anguish. "Look, you idiot, just tell Gensig that I found the…"She stopped, finally catching sight of Cloud. Her mouth hung open slightly and her eyes widened.

"Hello Cynthia," Cloud said quietly. "Who are you talking to?"

"Shouldn't you be in the infirmary?" she hissed, trying to adopt her cruel demeanor again to hide her shock. Cloud took a step towards her.

"I was taking a walk. Who are you talking to?"

"Nobody. Get lost."

"I know you're lying," Cloud said, shrugging. "No use hiding it." He now stood about two feet from her. She took a step back.

"You're asking for it, kid. Bug off before I kick your face into the middle of next week."

"I wanted to say that I apologize for…I guess it was a week ago." Cynthia was taken about by that statement. "Whatever I said, ignore it. I wasn't the one talking."

"What the hell? Are you possessed or something?" But Cloud ignored her and reached up, taking the still activated PHS from her hand.

"Hello?" he said to the person on the phone. A startled reply answered. "Yeah, Cynthia is still here. No, sorry, she can't talk right now. Bye, Mister." He hung up the PHS and put it in his pocket. "Bye Cynthia." He turned and started drifting back towards the infirmary.

"You little…!" Cloud stopped and turned only his head to face her. His eyes glowed unnaturally, in a way that was different from mako but ever bit unsettling.

"What?" he asked, and to Cynthia he looked so frail, so inconspicuous. He looked like he was no threat at all, but Cynthia knew better. She knew, or assumed, that there was a lurking power behind that frail form.

"My PHS," she held out her hand expectantly. "It's stealing, if you take it." Her voice was level, and she tried her best to stare him in the eye.

"Oh," he said absently, as if he'd forgotten he'd taken it only a moment before. He pulled it out of his pocket and tossed it to her. She caught it. "Sorry." He turned away again, and Cynthia watched him go. She then quickly dialed into the PHS and waited.

There was no dial tone, no ringing. She looked at the offending item, confused. Then she saw it.

He'd taken the battery.

* * *

Cloud walked quietly back into the infirmary, not looking at Aion, Xi, or Fey as he passed by them. He set the PHS battery on the side table and lay back in the bed. He closed his eyes for a moment, and then opened them.

"Hi."

"Where _were _you?" Fey asked, dislodging herself from the shocked trio at the door and marching to his bedside.

"I was taking a walk," he replied.

"You're _sick_, you shouldn't be taking walks!" Fey replied, eyes filled to the brim with worry and bloodshot from lack of sleep. Cloud read her thoughts to figure out why.

"I'm sorry," he said, and rolled onto his side so they couldn't see his face. "I didn't think I'd worry you."

"Of course you didn't! For someone so selfless you sure do think about yourself a lot!" Fey exclaimed, and both Aion and Xi tried in vain to calm her down. "Cloud, haven't you ever once stopped to realize people care about you?" She grabbed his shoulder and forced him to stare her. "Well?"

"Mom does," he replied. "I guess Zack does. Lei and Iah, you guys. See, I do know."

"Anyone else?" Aion asked, suddenly, and Fey turned to peer at the normally quiet man. "Don't you have anyone like I have Fey? Or like Xi has?"

"I'm alone," Cloud replied, turning away again.

"What about Tifa?" Aion prodded, and Cloud tensed. He couldn't see it, but Xi and Fey looked terribly confused. "She's the girl you like, the one you're _fighting_ for. Vinia told me. You keep a picture of her in a secret compartment that you fashioned in your left shoe."

Cloud started laughing, but it was that kind of laughing that sounded more like sobs.

"Can't I have just one secret?" he asked no one. "Something nobody knows so that they can't hold it against me. God damnit, Fey, just tell them already." He sat up and stared at them all, his eyes blazing. He was holding back tears, pushed this far to the edge of his sanity.

"We just care about you, Chi-san," Xi whispered. "That's why we want to know."

"I can read minds! Sometimes I can manipulate things, make them appear or disappear. I can teleport, I think. Or maybe just move very fast when I want to…I'm weak, mad in the head, worthless, and I'm part bat! What more do you need to know?"

That was probably the most they'd ever heard him say in one breath.

"Part…bat?" Aion asked, raising one eyebrow. Cloud just pointed at Fey and faced away from them again.

She explained best she could, about everything in the file that she had collected. Cloud put in a few comments, otherwise he, for the most part, stayed silent.

It was only hard for him because he had to relive it all. The falling, the cloaked man, the glass. And now this. She mentioned Lazard and he saw Xi bow her head to pray for the man.

Cloud hadn't been totally honest when he said he didn't know who Lazard was. He did, in a way… the first mission he'd ever gone on with Zack was because of that man. He remembered the day he'd been picked, because it had been strange. He remembered standing in his ranks with Colby walking up and down the lines and Vinia being four people away from him. He remembered the instructors standing in front saying something about the mission and Tseng was there but he had looked bored. The instructors had called out Stevenson's name, he remembered that too. Stevenson was his partner. But they hadn't called Cloud's name, because originally only one grunt, one SOLDIER, and Tseng were supposed to go.

He remembered that day because Lazard had slipped into the ranks and grabbed Cloud by the shoulder, gently pushing him forward and announcing to the room that "he was going too."

But that was it. The rest of what he knew about the old Soldier Head came from rumors and what he'd read.

They were asking him for his opinion. He no longer knew what to say.

"I just want to go home," he whispered, and buried his face into the pillow.

He had no idea where home was.

* * *

Cloud told Fey about Cynthia's phone call. He handed the battery off to her and Aion decided to stay behind while the two women left. Cloud told him he could leave; he was just going to sleep. Aion asked instead if the two of them could talk.

It didn't have to be about anything, just as long as it was something.

"Ever heard of this Gensig guy?" Fey asked Xi when they were safely out of earshot of anyone. Xi looked very worried, staring at the ground.

"I remember his name, but I cannot remember what faction he belongs to. I think Cynthia is using an alias now, but I have no proof of why."

"Gut feeling?"

"Yeah."

"Are _you_ using an alias?"

"In a way, yes. But you're the one who gave it to me. I am legally under the name Xyfing-Tei. You're the one who told them all to call me Siren."

"Well…shit on a shingle…." Fey shrugged. "Anyway, Xi, got your PHS on you?" Fey asked, stopping suddenly. Xi stopped too and looked at the Commander questioningly.

"Yes ma'am, always do." She got it out and showed it to Fey.

"Call _her_ now. I need her to know what's going on. If we've got to get this kid out of here, it's got to be soon."

"Fey….that's treason!"

"Hun, I haven't turned you in. _That_ is treason. But if Elfé is as strong as they say, she can keep Cloud safe. Maybe she'll know why he has these attacks."

"They're a lot alike," Xi muttered. "Like mirrors of each other. If Cloud was more driven…they'd be twins…"

"I have _got_ to meet this girl. Now call. And tell them I'm listening. Hell, if we survive this mess, I may even join in. _Dial_, damn it! Didn't you hear the kid? Something's happening!" Fey was shaking, and Xi quickly dialed the PHS.

"Are you afraid?" She whispered to Fey, and was surprised when the woman nodded back. She didn't say anything more though, because they both heard:

"Xi! What are you doing calling in the middle of the day over there? Aren't you gonna get caught? Oh wait, does _this_ mean you ARE caught? Do I need to come over there—shut UP Fuhito, she called _me_ not you—"

"Sears, I'm fine, I swear. How's the Mistress?" Xi said to the man on the phone. They heard him laugh slightly and his voice slowed.

"Oh, she's…fine, I guess. Sleeping now."

"It's late there."

"Nah, not really. Just after supper, but you know how she is. Always working herself near to death…by the way, is someone listening in on this conversation?" Fey started and backed away from where Xi was holding the PHS.

"Yes," Xi answered. "My commanding officer, Feyore." Fey gestured for them to move into her room, which they did, and she locked the door. Over the PHS, they heard shuffling and a door shut and Sears was whispering now.

"Any reason why a full fledged 1st is being allowed to eavesdrop? Oh, hello, Miss Feyore, my name is Sears, field leader of AVALANCHE."

"Hello Sears," Fey answered. "And we have an emergency, and may need your help."

Sears did not reply to them at first. He was yelling something back at the man called Fuhito, before he spoke to them again.

"What's up? Obviously, it must be serious enough for you to be risking your neck, Feyore."

"Please, call me Fey. Everyone does."

"I don't got the right."

"Then I order you to!"

"Then I defiantly won't," Sears replied simply.

"Sears, please!" Xi cut in.

"Fey it is. What's the problem? Did Sephiroth finally lose it?" Xi snickered but Fey shot her a look and she quieted down. "Sorry, joke. You don't like it, sorry sorry. Make our lives easier, though. What can this ol' Terrorist do for you?"

"I have a soldier here that may need your protection and he might be attracting the attention of other terrorist organizations," Fey laid out the bare minimum. Xi supplied a little more.

"Remember Cynthia, the untrustworthy one here?" Sears made a noise of affirmation. "She's in league with Gensig." They heard a loud sounding "pop" as Sears' phone hit the ground and he scrambled to pick it back up on his end.

"Ah shit, wait a tick. I'll get Elfé up."

"You don't even know why their after this kid, and you're already taking it to your leader?" Fey asked, surprised.

"Gensig is only concerned with one thing, and that's bringing about Ragnarok. Damn it, that's what Elfé meant by the 'bells are ringing again.'"

"Chi-san mentioned those too!" Xi shouted into the phone. Sears seemed to groan.

"It's never good when you give someone a nickname like _that_," he muttered, and it sounded like he was putting his PHS down somewhere. Fey heard him whispering kind words as if to awaken someone in the nicest way possible. The two women couldn't help but smile at each other, as they both recognized the words and actions of a man in love. But Fey hid a cringe, as Sears was playing a dangerous game, falling in with the leader of the most wanted known terrorist group in the world.

They heard shifting and a muffled hello, before Sears picked up the PHS again.

"Kay, she's awake and filled in. Keep going, she can hear us now."

"Mistress Elfé!" Xi called.

"Hello there, Soldier," Elfé replied, and Fey was startled to hear how quiet the esteemed leader's voice was. It was soft, and sounded like it was rarely used. But Fey could hear the power behind the whispered speech, and knew that when this woman spoke, the world should listen. "You are well?"

"Wonderful…I was, at least"

"Sears told me. I felt change coming; now it is here. What of this Soldier?" There was a pause, but before Xi answered. "Feyore, hello." Fey felt a shiver run down her spine, but ignored it.

"Hello, Elfé."

"Uh, Xi, continue please," Sears said.

Xi told them now, the best she could, without using Cloud's name or too many specifics, about the weird things occurring that the SOLDIER base.

"Man, this is bad," Sears muttered, at the end of the tale. He didn't seem to mind the holes in the story at all. Elfé whispered something, to him alone. "Oh, uh…Fuhito's busy, that's why he's not here." Sears' answer was loud enough for them all to hear.

"Are you two fighting again?" Xi giggled.

"Fighting? No, no Fuhito and I never fight," Sears replied sarcastically. "Don't know what you're talking about… We just disagree…a lot…about everything…" They heard a light giggling coming from his side. "Xi, you made her laugh."

Xi beamed and Fey tried not to be blinded by the other girl's happiness. She wondered what it was like, to be such a person that the sightless laugh made one's followers' glow in such a way.

"But seriously, Xi, you've got a real something going on there."

"Mistress Elfé, if I may be so bold…he seems to be a lot like you," Xi muttered.

"This Soldier?" Sears asked.

"Yes. They are like twins, Field Leader. I wonder what it would be like, if he was a 1st. The world would follow, I bet. Just like you, Mistress."

"Not so," Elfé whispered quickly. Fey decided not to point out that Cloud denied his own abilities on a regular basis as well. "This Soldier, does he…" her voice faded off. Xi seemed to understand what Fey did not.

"Not that I know of, Mistress. He...he seemed perfectly human, until the outburst."

"Then he is human," Sears said simply. "Just unlucky, but human."

"Sorry there, Sears, but no _human_ I know has wings and sees dead people," Fey scoffed.

"Cetra?" Xi suggested. "Like_ her_?"

"No, she'd know if there were others," Elfé negated. "He's something new. Human, perhaps, and something more."

"Like you," Fey muttered.

"I am…a creation. He is not like me. He is of the Planet's design…I am… of man's."

Fey pondered those words with a sickening feeling.

"Hojo?"

"Yes."

"If they catch you…" Fey started.

"They won't," Sears interrupted, his jovial tone forced. "No worries." He sounded worried.

"Right. Look…Sears, Elfé…I want you to come and get him and Xi out of here…"

"Kidnap a Soldier, huh?" Sears asked, pondering.

"Yes…We'd help you do it. He may be safer with you," Fey said.

"Look, we'll see what we can do. Do a bit more research on our end. We can't go flying into this blind. As much as I trust you, Fey, I won't risk it not being a trap," Sears said. "Xi, is that reasonable?"

"I will keep you updated," she replied. Fey nodded too, and conveyed her agreement over the PHS.

"But if things start getting hectic, Fey, Xi….you guys get us notified A.S.A.P. We can do our best to help."

"That's all we ask. This is risky business," Fey agreed.

**"Feyore…" Elfé whispered.**

"Yes?"

"Does ShinRa know? About this Soldier?"

"No…I do not believe so."

"Keep it that way. I beg…" Her voice trailed again.

"I'm not handing this kid to Hojo on a plate, Elfé. I'm not," she paused. "One more thing."

"Quickly," Elfé whispered.

"Yeah, we need to stop tying up the phone lines, they'll get the suspicious on us," Sears added.

"What are the bells?" Fey asked. Xi shifted uncomfortably.

"When they ring, two types will hear them," Elfé answered. "Those who restore and those who destroy." She sounded mystified by her own speech. Sears cut in.

"Um, Elfé, Fey's not gonna get you if you start speaking like _it_…Fey, the Bells everyone keeps talking are known simply as the Apocalypse Bells, and legend says that when the world is near it's end, certain people will hear the Bells_ ring_, and every time that happens, some sort of significant event will occur," Sears explained. "But, the Legends also say that those who hear, and are affected, by the Bells, have something special about them. The Bells ring in intervals, with one being minor…and so on…"

"He said he heard them ring thirteen times," Fey said evenly.

"Yes, I heard that," Elfé added. "Thirteen."

"So…that's bad, right?" Fey asked.

"Yes, Feyore," Elfé replied. "It marks the beginning of the end."

* * *

**A/N : Then again, I bet Cloud is OOC too. Oh well. Enjoy! I'm going to sleep now. **

** Questions? Comments? Concerns? I know, the name for the "Bells" is _so_ orginol, don't you think? haha**

To Grow Wings


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